. . 


BV  4630  . A6  1923 
Anderson,  Louis  Francis, 
1859- 
Virtues 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/virtueseternalesOOande 


VIRTUES 

THE  ETERNAL  ESSENCE 
AND  FORM  OF  RELIGION 


By  the  Author  of 

“PROLEGOMENA  TO  THEISM” 


<  c 


and 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  SOUL 


1  C“  ^ 

U  O u  i  5  i  .  n  H  a  5 


O  D 


Published  by 

Society  for  Religious  Education 
Glen  Ellyn,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 
(Postpaid  $2.00) 


Copyright  1923 
By 

MARK  SANDS 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction  .  , . •  • .  7 

Excerpts  from  Scriptures  of  Egypt,  India,  Persia,  China,  and  the 
Greek  and  Roman  Philosophers  and  Poets .  21 

Virtues,  the  Spirit  and  Reflex  of  Divine  Attributes .  48 

Virtues,  the  Highest  Gift  and  Eternal  Reason  of  Life .  54 

Virtues,  the  Essential  Cult  of  Divinity  and  Supreme  Object  of 
Prayer  . •  • .  66 

Virtues,  the  Sacramental  Content  of  Conscience .  75 

Virtues,  the  Eternal  Essence,  Revelation  and  Bond  of  Religion....  83 

Virtues,  the  Absolute  Commandments  of  God  and  the  Sanctifying  and 

Beatifying  Laws  of  Life . . . ••  90 

Virtues,  the  Supreme  Honor,  Power  and  Duty  of  Man .  94 

VIRTUES  OF  THE  WILL . 105 

The  Virtue  of  Humility . •• . 106 

Faith  in  God . •  • . 114 

Devotion  to  God . •  • . 121 

Gratitude  to  God . 127 

The  Virtue  of  Fortitude . •  • . 133 

Inward  Energy  for  Sanctification . 135 

Perseverance  in  Virtue . 140 

Triumph  Over  the  Evil . 145 

The  Virtue  of  Blissfulness . •• . 150 

Security  in  God . 1 54 

Peace  in  God . •• . 160 

Joy  in  God . •  • . 166 

VIRTUES  OF  THE  MIND . •  • .  171 

The  Virtue  of  the  Mental  Tendency  to  God . 173 

Adherence  to  Divine  Light . 176 

Attention  to  the  Voice  of  God . •  • . 182 

Cleaving  to  Conscience . 187 


PAGE 

The  Virtue  of  Wisdom . •• . 192 

Application  of  the  Will  to  Conscience . 193 

Application  of  the  Intellect  to  Conscience . 199 

Application  of  the  Sentiment  to  Conscience . 206 

The  Virtue  of  Simplicity . --...213 

Sincerity  of  Will . ...... . 215 

Veracity  of  Mind . •• . 220 

Modesty  of  Attitude . •• . 225 

VIRTUES  OF  THE  HEART . ...231 

The  Virtue  of  Love . •• . 233 

Sacrificial  Motives  . •  • . 236 

Charitable  Sentiments  . •• . 245 

Universal  Cosympathy  and  Chastity . 252 

The  Virtue  of  Righteousness . 259 

Righteous  Determination  . 262 

Righteous  Vision  . •  • . 266 

Righteous  Sentiment  . .>273 

The  Virtue  of  Goodness.  .  •  • . 278 

Benevolence  and  Magnanimity . 288 

Earnestness  and  Enthusiasm . 287 

Spiritual  Grace  and  Beauty . 292 


Further  works  of  the  author  will  soon  be  published 
in  the  following  order: 

1 .  Soul  and  Conscience. 

(A  psychology  based  on  conscience  and 
logic  and  the  intrinsic  interrelation  of  these 
sciences. ) 

2.  The  Face  of  God  and  the  Plan  of  Divine 
Creation. 


(A  universal  theosophy  including  the  struc¬ 
ture  of  the  natural  universe.) 


. 


PREFACE 


The  aim  of  this  work  is  to  give  a  concise  explanation 
of  virtues  according  to  their  essence  and  inherent  order. 

The  spirit  of  religion  must  be  known,  not  only  in  its 
general  effects,  as  it  is  known,  but  also  in  its  eternal 
and  formal  origin,  and  in  all  formal  psychic  processes, 
in  order  to  be  wholly  understood  and  recognized  as 
the  most  glorious  and  beneficent  might  of  our  lives. 

Furthermore,  the  soul  must  be  known  as  the  spiritual 
subject  of  religion,  and  the  whole  order  of  our  psychic 
forces  must  correspond  with  the  superspiritual  order  of 
the  might  of  God  as  revealed  in  conscience. 

If  this  coherence  is  not  made  clear,  then  religion  is 
exposed  to  unavoidable  objections  from  all  possible 
viewpoints  and,  as  facts  prove,  has  no  dominating  but 
merely  a  defensive  power. 

The  relative  correspondence  of  the  soul  with  God, 
i.  e.  of  all  its  formal  capacities  with  the  Attributes  of 
God,  is  the  ground  of  religion,  and  the  whole  power 
of  logic  must  be  applied  to  make  this  ground  clear. 

Religion  is  not  only  the  chief  urgency  of  the  will 
and  the  most  important  aspiration  of  the  heart,  but 
also  the  highest  and  most  exacting  science  and  knowl- 

5 


6 


VIRTUES 


edge.  No  science  requires  such  great  mental  qualifica¬ 
tions  as  does  religion.  The  very  fact  that  as  yet 
religion  is  enshrouded  in  mysteries,  manifestly  proves 
the  general  deficiency  of  the  human  intellect.  But  the 
reason  for  this  intellectual  deficiency  does  not  lie  so 
much  in  the  weakness  of  intellect,  as  such,  as  in  our 
lack  of  interest  in  the  sublimest  task  of  life. 

The  form  of  this  work  may  not  satisfy  those  who 
look  for  popularity  only,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  nothing  popular  has  any  assurance  of  permanence 
unless  it  is  substantiated  by  logic,  which  means  that 
it  must  be  based  on  absolute  ground,  stated  with  incon¬ 
trovertible  consistency  and  brought  down  to  clear  facts. 
Popularity  must  follow  great  principles  and  not  the 
reverse,  and  great  principles  require  the  strictest  and 
the  highest  possible  definition.  The  task  of  popularizing 
virtues  depends  on  those  who  accept  virtues  with  all 
the  power  of  the  will,  the  mind  and  the  heart. 

The  presentation  of  virtues  in  this  work  clearly 
demonstrates  the  absolute  ground  and  harmony  of  vir¬ 
tues  and  of  their  controlling  might  over  the  soul’s  forces 
and  movements.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  religious 
teachers  will  obtain  in  this  sublime  science  a  spiritual 
instrument  which,  notwithstanding  denominational  lean¬ 
ings,  will  provide  them  with  the  religious  power  to  carry 
the  Voice  of  God  into  the  deepest  recesses  of  our  life. 

1920.  Justus. 


INTRODUCTION 


Of  all  branches  of  human  knowledge  the  knowledge 
of  virtues  has  made  the  least  progress.  If  we  consider 
the  ancient  attempt  to  schematize  the  virtues,  beginning 
with  that  of  Manu:  “To  be  contented,  to  repay  good 
for  evil,  to  suppress  sensual  passions,  to  refrain  from 
unallowed  gain,  to  purify  ourselves,  to  keep  the  body 
in  order,  to  search  the  scriptures,  to  know  the  Highest 
Spirit,  to  be  truthful  and  not  to  yield  to  wrath — these 
are  the  ten  commandments  of  the  Brahmin,”  or,  “The 
good  Knowledge,  the  good  Purity,  the  good  Wisdom, 
the  good  Constancy  be  praised”  of  Vispered  (Avesta), 
or,  “The  virtuous  possess  three  treasures  which  they 
consider  as  their  highest  good:  Love,  Contentment 
and  Humility”  of  Lao-Tse,  and  compare  these  with 
the  four  virtues  of  Plato:  “Wisdom,  Manliness, 
Moderation  and  Justice” — which,  with  various  modi¬ 
fications,  are  accepted  as  the  cardinal  virtues  of  Chris¬ 
tianity — and  with  St.  Paul’s  “Faith,  Hope  and  Char¬ 
ity,”  we  find  that  the  oriental  exposition  of  virtues  has 
not  been  surpassed  or  superseded.  It  is,  however, 
noticeable  that  neither  the  oriental  nor  the  occidental 

7 


8 


VIRTUES 


conception  of  virtue  has  the  necessary  divine  ground, 
logical  order  and  completeness. 

Logic  is  order  of  truth,  and  it  would  be  disastrous 
for  virtues  were  they  not  to  follow,  or,  rather  sustain 
this  order.  Moreover,  virtues,  despite  a  clear  indica¬ 
tion  by  Confucius,  have  never  been  presented  as  the 
concrete  and  consistent  outflow  from  their  supreme 
source,  the  Divine  Attributes.  Therefore,  they  have 
been  treated  illogically  and  too  subjectivistically.  This 
treatment  is  due  to  the  anthropomorphic  spirit  in  religion, 
which  greatly  impedes  the  intrinsic  knowledge  of  virtues 
and  their  fulfillment  in  our  daily  life. 

Greek  philosophers  defined  virtue  as  an  “excellence” 
of  character.  Seneca  stated  that  “Virtue  is  something 
high,  sublime,  royal,  invincible,  indefatigable,”  and 
Plotinus  that  “Virtue  is  the  assimilation  with  God.” 
Spinoza  calls  it  “Might  of  the  spirit  which  defines  the 
essence  of  man.”  Kant,  Hegel  and  their  followers  call 
virtue  “moral  aptness”  or  “moral  force  of  the  will.” 
Mgr.  Gay  said  that  “Virtue  is  a  special  power  of 
ascending  toward  our  heavenly  Father.”  Some  con¬ 
temporaneous  Christian  asketics  claim  it  to  be  merely 
an  “aptitude,  an  habitual  disposition  to  do  good.” 
None,  however,  have  approached  the  great  definition  of 
Alcuin  that  “Virtue  is  the  habit  of  the  spirit,  the  orna¬ 
ment  of  nature,  the  reason  of  life,  the  devotion  of 
morals,  the  cult  of  Divinity,  the  honor  of  man,  the 
merit  of  beatitude.” 


INTRODUCTION 


9 

Roman  theologians,  according  to  the  exclusiveness  of 
their  dogmas,  discriminate  between  theological,  moral, 
infused  and  acquired  virtues.  All  virtues,  however,  are 
essentially  religious,  consequently  they  must  exert  their 
might  on  morals.  Furthermore,  as  all  virtues  are 
“infused”  by  Divine  operation  and,  at  the  same  time, 
“acquired”  by  subjective  determination  before  the  sub¬ 
ject  can  be  meritoriously  infused,  or,  more  correctly, 
endowed  with  divine  characteristics,  it  follows  that  the 
above  discrimination  and  division  is  neither  essential 
nor  logical. 

H  aving  thus  surveyed  some  of  the  most  important 
ideas  on  virtue,  it  is  necessary  to  present  a  profounder 
and  broader  statement  of  the  subject. 

Virtues,  in  their  principle,  are  the  spirit  and  reflex 
of  Divine  Attributes  operating  on  conscience  for  the 
sake  of  the  sanctification  of  the  soul.  As  such  they  are 
the  highest  gift  of  God  and  the  eternal  “ reason ”  of 
life ,  the  essential  “ cult  of  Divinity”  and  the  supreme 
object  of  prater,  the  sacramental  content  of  conscience , 
the  eternal  essence ,  revelation  and  bond  of  religion ,  the 
absolute  commandments  of  God  and  the  sanctifying 
and  beatifying  laws  of  life ,  and ,  consequently ,  the 
supreme  honor ,  power  and  duty  of  man . 

From  the  holiest  inwardness  of  God  proceed  the 
eternal  rays  of  virtues,  flowing  into  the  child  of  God. 
Hence  the  admiration  of  everything  virtuous.  Nothing 
commands  such  respect  and  so  moves  the  noble  heart 


10 


VIRTUES 


as  virtuous  deeds,  virtuous  thoughts  and  virtuous  senti¬ 
ments.  The  whole  creation,  spiritual  and  natural,  is 
classified  and  characterized  according  to  the  degree 
of  the  personal  affirmation  and  expression  of  virtue. 
And  far  are  mind  and  heart  from  religion  if  they  do 
not  know  and  love  virtue. 

Considering  virtue  from  an  exclusively  psychological 
standpoint,  we  find  it  to  be  not  merely  a  “moral  force” 
or  “aptitude,”  but  a  superspiritual  underdwellmg  might 
which  moves  and  rules  all  moral  forces.  The  spiritual 
and  moral  forces  which  we  possess  are  will,  intellect, 
and  sentiment,  and  these,  like  all  other  worthy  forces, 
are  intrinsically  related  to  the  transcendent  mights  of 
God,  which  constitute  the  eternal  prototype  of  all 
worthy  life.  Will  without  worthiness,  intellect  without 
truth  and  sentiment  without  love  are  less  than  fantastic 
fictions ;  and  psychologies  without  virtues  are  intel¬ 
lectual  castles  in  the  air. 

The  alleged  isolation  of  the  natural  sciences  from 
religion  is  a  proud  assertion,  but  it  has  no  logic.  No 
matter  how  much  a  radical  scientist  may  endeavor  to 
shirk  or  dodge  the  religious  question,  he  cannot  deny 
that  all  his  scientific  efforts  are  aimed  at  the  knowledge 
of  God’s  creation  and  at  the  benefit  of  humanity,  and 
these  are  strictly  religious  motives.  The  fact  that  his 
observations  pertain  exclusively  to  physical  and  not 
also  to  spiritual  and  superspiritual  objects  is  his  own 
personal  deficiency.  He,  like  everyone  else,  knows  that 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


worthiness,  truthfulness  and  goodness  are  the  most  vital 
factors  of  life.  No  matter  how,  in  the  onesided  train¬ 
ing  of  his  intellect,  he  may  endeavor  to  explain  con¬ 
science,  he  cannot  deny  it.  Nor  can  he  deny  virtue. 
He  cherishes  its  possession  as  others  do,  and  in  the 
hour  of  trial  and  tribulation  has  recourse  to  it  as  his 
strongest  hold  and  sole  consolation. 

Natural  science  may  make  great  scientists,  but  it 
makes  no  great  souls.  Were  we  to  have  the  most  exact 
knowledge  of  the  universe,  with  all  its  spheres,  phases, 
forces  and  creatures,  and  had  we  no  virtue,  life  would 
be  unendurable.  Owing  to  their  instrumental  essence, 
applied  sciences  are  concomitants  of  war  with  its  appal¬ 
ling  destruction  of  life  and  property,  while  such  a 
simple  virtue  as  sympathy  with  humanity  prevents  cruel 
disaster  and  heals  the  wounds  inflicted  by  hatred.  Con¬ 
ceding  that  our  civilized  factors  were  impotent  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  recent  calamity,  it  is  equally  true  that  the 
so-called  exact  sciences  have  greatly  aggravated  it. 

So  long  as  the  Will  of  God,  in  the  form  of  virtue, 
is  not  the  dogma  of  our  faith,  and  the  most  vital  rule 
of  our  education  and  life,  our  world  must  expect  to 
face  future  disasters.  Nothing  endures  except  the  Will 
of  God,  implanted  in  our  conscience  in  the  form  of 
virtues.  The  drama  of  our  earthly  life  is  essentially 
the  drama  of  the  lack  and  impotence  of  human  virtues, 
and  nothing  will  lift  us  from  the  vortex  of  passions  but 
a  constantly  renewed  effort  to  rise  above  the  darkness 


12 


VIRTUES 


of  our  sinful  dispositions  and  habits  and  work  with 
all  zeal  to  implant  and  cultivate  virtues  in  our  hearts. 

The  spirit  of  virtue  which  is  the  faithful,  truthful 
and  loving  Will  of  God,  moves  majestically  in  light 
and  sacrifice.  It  visits  each  soul  through  the  open  gates 
of  the  humble  heart,  in  order  to  urge,  to  encourage,  to 
enlighten  and  to  bless  the  more  or  less  distant  child 
of  God’s  heavenly  love.  And  where  the  gates  of  the 
heart  are  shut,  He  leaves  a  mark  of  His  fatherly  visita¬ 
tion  and  admonition.  The  virtuous  soul  knows  these 
visitations  and  seeks  and  awaits  them  with  a  longing 
heart.  The  unvirtuous  fears  them  and  affects  no  dis¬ 
tinct  knowledge,  though  he  cannot  deny  them. 

The  work  of  conscience  is  the  work  of  virtues,  no 
matter  how  great  or  how  little  their  insistence  may  be. 
All  the  efforts  of  saints  are  exertions  for  the  attainment 
of  virtues.  Mystics,  philosophers,  moralists  and  asketics 
univocally  extol  and  strive  for  virtues.  They  differ  only 
in  the  contemporaneous  frame  of  understanding,  but 
they  never  differ  at  heart. 

Many  theologians  object  to  the  Stoical  school  on 
the  alleged  ground  that  it  “divinizes”  the  virtues.  This 
criticism  arises  from  the  fact  that  in  the  gospels  there 
is  no  indication  of  the  superspirituality  of  the  virtues 
and,  consequently,  Christian  theologians  are  unable  to 
see  the  superspiritual  ground  of  all  virtues.  To  them 
virtues  are  mere  psychological  and  “natural”  mani¬ 
festations,  a  natural  “aptness  to  do  good.”  Only  the 


INTRODUCTION 


13 

miraculous  Christian  revelation  and  the  “authoritative” 
interpretation  of  it,  as  evidenced  by  the  exclusive  Chris¬ 
tian  sacraments,  are,  to  speak  in  their  own  term,  “super¬ 
natural.”  All  the  rest  is  “natural,”  which,  according 
to  their  timid  interpretation,  ultimately  means  the  evil. 
Therefore,  according  to  Christian  dogmas,  virtues  must 
be  Christianized  in  order  to  obtain  divine  blessing  and 
efficiency.  This  is  the  nucleus  of  all  more  or  less 
orthodox  Christian  theologies.  It  is  astonishing  how  a 
pietistic  onesidedness  can  so  blind  the  human  mind  and 
so  shrink  the  human  heart  as  to  suppress  the  Voice  of 
God  in  the  soul,  which  suppression  is  largely  responsible 
for  the  lack  of  religious  devotion  in  the  Christian  world. 

Virtues  need  not  be  divinized.  They  in  themselves 
are  the  issue  of  Divinity,  the  formal  Will  of  Cod  in 
Conscience.  It  may  be  said  to  the  honor  of  the  great 
school  of  the  Stoa  that  it  insisted  on  the  term  conscience 
as  something  divine,  a  term  whose  greatness  has  fur¬ 
thered  and  is  furthering  the  rise  of  humanity  more  than 

i 

historical  dogmas,  and  to  which  term  Christianity  is  not 
less  indebted  than  other  creeds — as  the  history  of 
“Syneidesis”  and  “Synteresis”  proves. 

As  to  the  other  point,  to  maintain  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  “natural  virtue”  is  to  destroy  the  possibility 
of  any  conception  of  virtue.  Only  a  mind  subversive 
of  profounder  religious  sensibilities  can  assert  such  an 
absurdity.  There  is  no  term  in  human  language  which 
has  done  more  intellectual  and  religious  harm  than  the 


14 


VIRTUES 


term  ‘'natural,”  and  the  misuse  of  this  term  by  many 
Christian  theologians  constitutes  an  actual  stain  on  the 
spiritual  honor  of  Christianity. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  observe  that  the  distinction 
made  by  Christian  theologians  between  “natural”  and 
“supernatural”  virtues  is  highly  pleasing  to  the  atheist. 
The  logical  sense  in  every  man  makes  him  feel  that 
there  cannot  be  two  issues  in  virtue;  that  all  virtues 
must  have  a  common  ground  somewhere.  Hence, 
having  the  theologians  own  word  for  it  that  some  virtues 
are  “natural,”  the  atheist  reasons  from  these  premises 
to  the  perfectly  logical  conclusion  that  all  virtues  are 
“natural.”  Thus  it  is  that  orthodoxy,  in  the  excess  of 
its  denominational  zeal,  does  not  hesitate  to  advance 
doctrines  which  inevitably  cripple  the  entire  religious 
position. 

Nothwithstanding  the  hylozoistic  definitions  of  the 
Sankhya  and  Greek  philosophy,  from  which  latter  the 
vague  term  “nature”  has  survived,  nature  has  a  precise 
sense  only  when  it  pertains  to  the  physical  world.  To 
attempt  to  discriminate  between  “natural”  and  “super¬ 
natural”  virtue  is  to  manifest  the  spirit  of  denomina¬ 
tional  insanity.  The  want  of  conscience  and  the  con¬ 
sequent  disorder  in  thinking,  no  less  than  factional 
pride,  is  the  characteristic  of  denominational  strife. 
And  there  will  be  no  harmony  in  spiritual  concepts 
and  convictions  until  all  religious  views  and  efforts  are 
grounded  on  the  Divine  Will  in  conscience — the  sole 


INTRODUCTION 


15 


source  of  virtue  and  the  essential  content  and  form  of 
religion.  To  endeavor  to  disprove  this  means  to 
deprive  religion  of  its  real  and  logical  origin  and  basis 
and  to  reduce  it  to  a  mere  sentimental  legend  and 
subjective  aspiration. 

Some  contend  that  a  theory  of  conscience  and  virtues 
is  too  philosophical  and  not  sufficiently  practical  for  the 
masses,  who  need  to  be  guided  by  an  approved  and 
sanctified  external  form,  supported  by  scriptures  and 
traditions.  But  events  prove  that,  with  the  steady 
progress  of  enlightenment  and  deeper  religious  insight, 
the  “holy  scriptures”  and  traditions  are  losing  their 
ground  of  sacredness,  and  that  among  the  thinking 
classes  of  humanity  there  is  a  growing  yearning  for  a 
profounder  and  broader  understanding  of  religion;  a 
religion  which  will  bring  the  soul  nearer  to  God  and 
to  mankind. 

It  is  not  true  that  established  forms  of  religion  are 
more  practical  because  they  have  the  sanction  of  ages. 
Religious  forms,  as  well  as  political  forms  rise,  decline 
and  vanish,  to  make  place  for  sublimer,  greater,  and 
more  efficient  forms.  Conservatism  is  right  in  retaining 
the  best,  but  it  is  wrong  in  imposing  views  and  forms 
which  do  not  correspond  with  the  progress  of  human 
conscience,  glided  by  the  Will  of  God.  It  seems  at 
times  as  though  human  conscience  lags  and  fails,  but 
history  manifests  that  its  progress  is  noticeable  and  that 
in  the  present  day  it  is  more  potent  than  in  the  past. 


16 


VIRTUES 


The  freedom  and  might  of  conscience  was,  is  and 
always  will  be  the  chief  issue  of  human  endeavors,  and 
the  preparation  of  humanity  for  this  eternal  issue  is 
the  task  of  the  great  educators  and  leaders  of  mankind. 
The  time  of  prophets  and  messiahs,  with  all  their  senti- 
mental  beauty,  promise  and  consolation,  is  passing  as 
the  sun  of  conscience  rises  on  the  religious  horizon  of 
the  human  soul.  The  Will  of  God  is  advancing  in  light 
and  sacrifice,  nearer  to  humanity.  And  those  most 
willing  and  apt,  those  with  the  virtues  of  humility,  forti¬ 
tude,  wisdom,  love  and  righteousness  will  lead  their 
weaker  brethren  to  a  worthier  life  on  earth  and  to  a 
higher  preparation  for  the  great  life  beyond. 

Insofar  as  the  various  religious  denominations  have 
represented  the  spirit  of  virtue,  their  achievements  are 
blessed  with  due  honor  and  gratitude.  But  only  thus 
far.  The  factional  zeal  displayed  by  so  many  churches 
is  not  a  divine  zeal.  It  is  a  zeal  of  exclusiveness,  emula¬ 
tion,  ambition,  envy,  intolerance  and  persecution.  The 
past  history  of  denominational  cruelty  and  the  still 
prevalent  denominational  hostility  prove  the  presence 
of  human  ungodliness  in  religious  doctrines.  Nowhere 
has  the  name  of  God  been  so  terribly  abused  as  in 
religious  denominations.  This  corruption  of  religious 
sublimity  and  veracity,  so  manifest  in  practice,  proves 
the  necessity  for  purification  and  elevation  of  the  religi¬ 
ous  standard  and  of  profounder  religious  understanding. 

The  church  of  God  stands  on  eternal  ground.  Its 


INTRODUCTION 


17 


infallible  dogma,  forever  implanted  in  the  soul  by  the 
Superspirit  of  God,  is  conscience — the  highest  tribunal 
of  honor  and  faith,  of  righteous  conviction  and  of  all 
questions  and  answers.  There  is  nothing  above  it 
except  God  Himself  and  nothing  beneath  it  except  the 
soul.  None  dares  to  dispute  this  grandest  and  most 
powerful  fact  of  life. 

If  conscience  can  be  distorted,  then  reason  can  be 
twisted  a  thousandfold,  for  reason  depends  on  con¬ 
science  for  its  ultimate  verdict.  Skepticism  and  atheism 
are  fostered  by  dogmas  without  conscience,  and  greater 
and  lesser  crimes  are  due  to  the  lack  of  a  thorough 
teaching  of  virtues  in  our  homes,  schools  and  churches. 
Where  conscience  is  not  taught  to  be  the  absolute  com¬ 
mandment  of  all  our  deeds,  thoughts  and  sentiments, 
there  virtues  are  not  only  ignored  but  are  not  even 
respected.  The  one  who  is  not  taught  to  feel  God 
at  the  ground  of  his  soul,  tut  to  trust  only  to  the 
memory  of  a  distant  legend,  true  or  untrue,  is  relatively 
distant  from  God. 

The  mystics  have  felt  this  and  spoken  of  it,  although 
they  have  not  explained  it  clearly.  Their  course  has 
been  too  sentimental,  but  their  sentiments  have  held  the 
right  direction.  Cleaving  more  to  virtues  than  to 
external  observance,  mystics  have  obtained  an  inkling 
of  the  pro  founder  paths  of  life.  On  their  sentiments, 
rather  than  on  their  thoughts,  philosophical  theories 
have  been  constructed.  But  all  theories  fail  if  they 


18 


VIRTUES 


are  not  grounded  on  conscience  and  adaptable  to  prac¬ 
tical  life. 

There  are  but  few  metaphysically  inclined  minds  in 
our  human  community,  and  very  rare  are  those  with 
proper  metaphysical  training.  Furthermore,  the  mind 
alone  cannot  attain  the  living  conscience.  Great  visions 
are  like  unfathomed  seas,  and  scanning  their  surface 
will  not  solve  their  depth.  One  must  live  within  the 
profoundest  vision,  with  full  intensity  of  the  will  and 
heart,  in  order  to  see  its  silent  might  and  its  complete 
and  unchangeable  order  through  its  seeming  mystery. 

It  is  not  true  that  human  conscience  is  as  fickle  as 
human  reason.  Man  reasons  very  seriously  when  it 
is  a  matter  of  direct  conscience.  All  axioms  of  life, 
religious,  social  and  personal,  if  lived  by,  are  acknowl¬ 
edged  and  accepted  by  the  individual  conscience 
mainly. 

Assuredly,  the  degrees  of  individual  conscience  vary; 
therefore,  it  is  always  the  highest  individual  conscience 
that  leads  and  clarifies.  Conscience  possesses  its 
inalienable  authority,  regardless  of  religious  and  social 
establishments.  Thus  the  Voice  of  God  sounds  first 
in  one  soul,  then  in  a  few  and  then  in  many  until  the 
prevailing  religious  and  social  views  are  subjected  to  a 
pro  founder  scrutiny  by  conscience;  then  the  old  stand¬ 
ards  of  life  decline  and  fall  as  if  struck  by  a  tran¬ 
scendent  decree. 

The  Voice  of  God  causes  epoch-making  changes  in 


INTRODUCTION 


19 


religious  conviction,  and  in  consequent  social  advance¬ 
ment,  mainly  through  the  human  conscience.  If  human¬ 
ity  is  predisposed  to  good  will  and  concord,  these 
advancing  stages  of  conscience  are  effected  peacefully, 
as  if  by  inspiration.  If  not,  discord  causes  strife,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  disaster  and  chastisement. 

Conscience  is  the  highest  and  most  effective  nucleus 
of  life.  To  say:  “that  man  has  no  conscience’’  is  the 
most  damning  accusation  of  dishonor.  He  may  be 
destitute  of  every  form  of  religion,  of  every  national 
and  social  ideal  or  standing,  he  may  be  steeped  in 
crimes  and  sins,  but  he  never  is  wholly  deprived  of 
conscience.  The  slightest  compunction  on  his  part 
proves  it. 

As  a  sublime  conscience  is  the  indestructible  crown 
of  personal  worthiness,  so  a  low  conscience  is  the  last 
refuge  of  the  wicked.  Conscience  is  not  only  the  essen¬ 
tial  honor  of  the  soul,  not  only  the  accuser  of  iniquity, 
but  also  the  alleviator  of  human  wretchedness;  for  it 
yields  before  no  brutality,  and  its  sentence,  however 
severe,  is  full  of  dignity  and  compassion. 

Our  highest  attainment  is  heaven ,  the  sight  of  God 
face  to  face,  the  life  in  His  immediate  presence,  and 
the  possession  of  sanctified  might,  light  and  sacrifice  that 
pass  human  understanding.  No  matter  how  inviting 
are  some  denominational  promises,  let  no  man  deceive 
himself  or  be  deceived  into  believing  that  he  can  live 
in  the  Divine  presence  until  this  holiest  and  sublimest 


20 


VIRTUES 


state  of  consummate  participation  in,  cooperation  with 
and  affirmation  of  God’s  Will  is  attained. 

Virtues  are  our  eternal  calling,  our  insuperable 
power,  our  torch  of  eternal  visions  and  the  inextinguish¬ 
able  flame  of  eternal  love  and  beatitude.  They  are 
the  transcendent  essence  of  the  soul’s  life. 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES  OF  EGYPT, 
INDIA,  PERSIA,  CHINA,  AND  THE 
GREEK  AND  ROMAN  PHILOS¬ 
OPHERS  AND  POETS 

Before  defining  the  essence  of  virtues,  and  describ¬ 
ing  the  order  and  content  of  each  virtue  in  particular, 
it  will  be  of  avail  to  glance  at  some  of  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  sentences  on  religion,  conscience  and  virtues,  con¬ 
tained  in  the  scriptures  of  Egypt,  India,  Persia  and 
China,  and  in  the  words  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
philosophers  and  poets.  Those  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  of  the  Jews  and  Christians,  with  their  rich 
content  relative  to  the  same  subject,  are  too  well  known 
to  need  repetition. 

In  these  excerpts  we  find  that  the  essential  content 
of  religion  is  not  an  exclusive  property  of  any  denomi¬ 
nation,  that  the  Divine  Superspirit  operates  on  con¬ 
science  in  every  part  of  the  world  and  in  every  age 
of  human  history.  An  unprejudiced  comparison  will 
fill  us  with  due  and  solemn  appreciation  for  those  who 
have  been  the  great  tutors  and  prophets  of  other 
spiritual  families  than  our  own. 

In  these  solemn  utterances  of  the  leaders  of  the 
human  conscience  we  notice,  not  theological,  but  only 

21 


22 


VIRTUES 


psychological  differences.  They  all  hold  fast  to  the 
one  faith  in  one  Absolute  God,  whether  they  define 

Him  as  Supreme  Essence,  Heaven,  Creator,  Lord,  the 

( 

Highest  Good  or  Father.  But  the  indications  of  the 
path  to  God  differ  according  to  the  peculiarity  of 
psychological  or  spiritual  predispositions  and  historical 
surroundings.  Thus  some  are  philosophical  and  poetical, 
others  rational  and  practical,  and  others  more  senti¬ 
mental.  The  understanding  and  valuing  of  this  ancient 
spirit  of  virtue  will  aid  the  understanding  of  our  own 
religious  progress. 


Egypt 


I  am  Ra,  who  at  my  rising  ruleth  all  things, 

I  am  the  great  self-made  God. 

Praise  be  unto  Thee,  Osiris,  Lord  of  Eternity, 
who  appearest  in  many  guises,  and  whose  attributes 
are  glorious. 

Praise  to  Thee,  Who  art  mighty  in  Thy  hour, 
great  and  mighty  Prince,  Lord  and  Creator  of  eternity. 

Praise  to  Thee,  Whose  throne  is  Right  and 
Truth,  Who  hateth  fraud  and  deceit. 

Praised  be  Thy  face,  Oh  King  of  both  worlds, 
Oh  Creator  of  the  universe,  Whose  eyes  are  like  rays 
of  light,  Who  blessest  the  skies  with  the  splendor  of 
Thy  light 

Praised  be  Thy  face,  Osiris,  Lord  of  the 
Posaune,  Weaver  of  divine  dwelling,  Lord  of  the 
clouds  of  heaven.  Let  me  approach  Thee,  my  Prince; 

_  v 

purify  my  hands  from  trespasses.  Thou  bringest  me 
near  Thee,  Thou  enlightenest  those  who  accord  with 
Thee 

I  am  He  Who  with  darkness  surrounds  the 
shining  raiment  of  heavenly  floods  when  I  speak  as 
Lord  through  the  Posaune.  Remember  the  Posaune 

23 


24 


VIRTUES 


I  am  leading  My  people  who  fear  my  arms 
and  the  tremendous  power  of  My  Voice 

Praised  am  I  by  the  leaders  of  the  clouds  of 
heaven;  the  songs  of  praise  of  human  congregations 
exalt  Me,  the  shining  Creator  of  mights  above  them, 
Who  sees  their  acts,  the  Lord  of  heavenly  floods,  Who 
hears  them  in  Wisdom. 


Bool i  of  the  Dead. 


India 


How  can  I  lift  myself  to  Varuna?  Will  He 
accept  my  sacrifice  without  wrath?  How  is  it  possible 
to  contemplate  with  a  pure  spirit  the  God  full  of 
mercy?  Oh  mighty  and  invincible  God! 

Tell  me  this. 

In  my  innocence  and  ardor  I  shall  adore  Thee 
Have  mercy  on  me,  Oh  Almighty  God,  have 
mercy  on  me! 

Thirst — though  in  the  midst  of  water — has 
devoured  Thy  adorer ;  have  mercy  on  me,  Oh  Almighty 
God,  have  mercy  on  me! 

Every  time,  Oh  Varuna,  that  we  common  men 
commit  any  offense  against  the  armies  of  heaven,  every 
time  that  we  violate  the  law  .  .  .  have  mercy  on 

us,  Oh  Almighty  Lord,  have  mercy  on  us! 

It  is  the  Divine  Spirit,  oh  beloved  soul,  which 
is  the  one  object  for  us  to  see,  to  hear,  to  understand, 
to  meditate  upon.  If  Him  we  see,  hear,  understand 
and  know — the  whole  universe  is  known  to  us. 

— Rig-Veda. 

The  Highest  Spirit  is  hidden  in  all  things.  If 
the  wise,  through  inward  communication,  has  under- 

25 


VIRTUES 


26 

stood  the  Divine  Spirit — Who  is  so  difficult  to  see, 
Who  is  hidden,  Who  permeates  nature.  Who  lies  in 
the  heart  of  man  and  Who  dwells  in  profundity — 
then  he  is  above  joy  and  grief. 

— Yagur-Veda. 

Beatitude,  which  conforms  with  true  life,  is 
not  the  beatitude  of  this  world,  but  the  one  in  which 
consists  the  true  essence  of  the  soul. 

— U  pnek-H  at. 

Kingdom  .  .  .  renown  and  wealth,  all 

put  together,  do  not  make  up  one-sixteenth  part  of  the 
value  of  virtue. 

— Mahabharata. 

Oh  friend  of  virtue,  the  sublime  spirit  whom 
thou  thinkest  to  be  thine  own,  dwells  constantly  in  thy 
breast,  and  is  an  omniscient  observer  of  thy  good  and 
evil  deeds. 

To  be  contented,  to  repay  good  for  evil,  to 
suppress  sensual  desires,  to  renounce  unallowed  gain, 
to  purify  oneself,  to  restrain  oneself,  to  study  the  scrip¬ 
tures,  to  understand  the  Highest  Spirit,  to  be  truthful 
and  not  to  be  misled  by  wrath — these  are  the  ten  com¬ 
mandments  of  the  Brahmin. 

The  soul  is  its  own  witness;  the  soul  is  its  own 
refuge;  do  not  injure  the  conscience  of  thy  soul,  the 
highest  inward  witness  of  men. 

The  sin  ful  say  in  their  hearts:  “No  one  sees 


27 


_ EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 

us.”  Verily  God  sees  them  clearly  and  so  does  the 
spirit  in  their  breasts. 

Gather  by  degrees  a  provision  of  virtuous 

actions. 

Bodies  are  cleansed  by  water;  the  spirit  through 

truth. 

The  purity  of  speech  and  of  heart  is  the  richest 
fruit  of  true  religion. 

When  justice,  wounded  by  vice,  approaches 
the  tribunal  of  judgment,  and  the  judges  do  not  remove 
the  dart,  then  they  themselves  should  be  struck  by  it. 

When,  before  an  assembly  of  good  men,  a  wit¬ 
ness  knowingly  makes  a  different  statement  from  what 
he  saw  or  heard,  he,  after  death,  shall  be  thrown  into 
the  region  of  horror,  debarred  from  heaven. 

Sacrifice  is  denied  by  a  lie,  the  merit  of  austere 
practice  by  vanity,  the  fruit  of  charity  by  fraudulent 
action  .  .  .  each  pious  act  accomplished  by 

hypocrisy  goes  to  the  evil  demons.  He  who  is  mild, 
patient,  a  stranger  to  perverse  association,  obtains 
heaven  by  his  charity. 

The  whole  humanity  is  kept  in  order  through 
lawful  rigor,  but  the  latter  must  be  just. 

True  goodness  is  susceptible  to  virtuous  love,  is 
free  from  all  passions,  and  clear  as  the  purest  light. 

— Mann. 

The  whole  of  religion  consists  in  three  sen- 


28 


VIRTUES 


tences:  Purify  the  spirit,  abstain  from  vice  and  prac¬ 
tise  virtue. 

There  are  seven  jewels  of  the  law:  Purity, 
Calmness,  Comprehension,  Bliss,  Wisdom,  Perfection 
and  Enlightenment,  which  manifest  themselves  in  seven 
ways;  in  earnest  meditation,  in  the  great  struggle  against 
sin,  in  the  aspiration  for  saintship,  in  moral  power,  in 
producing  the  organs  of  spiritual  sense,  in  wisdom  and 
in  righteousness. 

There  are  four  roads  to  saintship:  the  will  to 
acquire  saintship,  the  necessary  exertion,  a  thorough 
preparation  of  the  heart  and  self-discipline. 

The  fragrance  of  flowers  does  not  expand 
against  the  wind,  but  the  fragrance  of  the  virtuous 
expands  even  against  the  wind;  it  permeates  the  whole 
world. 

Royalties  with  their  glory  and  splendor  vanish, 
but  truth  is  immutable  and  eternal. 

Birth  does  not  give  true  nobility,  but  a  virtuous, 
noble  soul. 

He  who  conquers  himself  is  a  greater  hero  than 
he  who  conquers  a  thousand  enemies  a  thousandfold. 

Become  strong  in  virtue  thyself,  before  thou 
teachest  others. 

Conquer  wrath  through  gentleness,  the  evil 
through  the  good,  the  avaricious  through  liberality,  and 
the  liar  through  truth. 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


29 


Do  not  make  friends  of  bad  and  common  men, 
but  choose  the  virtuous  and  the  best. 

May  everybody  be  zealous  in  doing  good  and 
turn  his  mind  from  evil,  for  he  who  is  negligent  in  this 
takes  pleasure  in  evil. 

No  fire  is  so  wild  as  passions,  no  fetters  so  fast 
as  hatred. 

— Buddha. 

If  those  who  have  power  do  not  submit  to  the 
law  of  the  highest,  then  all  is  lost. 

— -Harivansa. 

I  am  the  beginning,  the  middle  and  the  end  of 
all  existent  things. 

They  who  worship  Me  with  true  devotion  are 
in  Me  and  I  with  them. 

I  am  the  Way,  Supporter,  Lord,  Witness, 
Abode,  Refuge,  Friend. 

That  man  obtains  the  perfect  state  who  honors 
by  his  proper  work  Him  from  Whom  all  things  have 
issued,  and  by  Whom  this  all  is  revealed. 

Fearlessness,  purity  of  heart,  attention  to  pro¬ 
foundness  of  wisdom,  charity,  sacrifice,  devotion, 
repentance,  sincerity,  innocence,  truthfulness,  gentle¬ 
ness,  renunciation,  abandon,  mildness,  compassion, 
chastity,  good-heartedness,  steadfastness,  fortitude, 
patience,  constancy,  purity  and  modesty  belong  to  those 
who  are  walking  the  Divine  path. 


Bhagavad~Gita. 


Persia 


All  that  is  most  beautiful,  pure,  immortal, 
splendid,  good,  the  good  spirit,  the  good  reign,  the  good 
law  and  the  good  wisdom — all  these  we  praise. 

Everything  glorious  is  united  in  the  pure 
through  true  thinking,  speaking  and  acting.  Through 
his  deeds  the  world  gains  in  purity. 

False  prayers  kill  the  spirit  of  life. 

Immortality  is  the  desire  of  the  pure. 

— Yasna. 

Hail  and  glory  to  the  pure! 

Glory  to  wisdom! 

Glory  to  righteousness! 

That  which  is  seized  in  spirit,  the  good 
knowledge,  the  good  purity,  the  good  wisdom  and  the 
good  steadfastness  be  praised. 

— Vispered. 

The  1  aw  that  Ormuzd  made ;  rightness  and 
righteousness  be  thy  rule. 

The  perfection  of  the  soul  be  praised! 

I  desire  that  the  wise  be  happy  and  that  the 
truthful  be  blessed. 

Praised  be  the  man  who  works  for  the  good 
of  everybody. 


30 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


31 


Be  full  of  fortitude  and  wholly  pure!  All 
power  and  goodness  be  present. 

Struggle  with  thy  adversary  in  a  just  manner. 

All  that  I  should  have  thought  and  have  not 
thought,  that  I  should  have  said  and  have  not  said, 
that  I  should  have  done  and  have  not  done — all  these 
I  repent. 

Pride,  vanity,  avarice,  .  .  .  wrath,  envy, 

impudence,  impure  intention  and  vision, 
obstinacy,  discontent  with  my  destiny,  wilfulness,  sloth, 
disrespect  for  others,  .  .  .  irreligious  rebellion 

against  Divine  Mights,  false  testimony,  false  judgment, 
idolatry,  theft,  robbery,  adultery,  debauchery,  lies, 
ungratefulness,  disobedience,  vindictiveness,  hardness  of 
heart  and  all  remaining  sins — I  repent. 

— Khorda-V esta. 


/ 


China 

The  virtuous  possess  three  treasures  which  they 
consider  as  their  highest  good:  Love,  Contentment 
and  Humility. 

Purity  of  spirit  and  spiritual  clearness  are 
required  to  understand  the  just,  the  good,  the  beautiful, 
the  true  and  the  perfect  in  the  world,  and  to  act  accord¬ 
ingly  in  order  to  be  a  model  of  human  worthiness. 

The  wise  gathers  not  worldly,  but  spiritual, 
everlasting  treasures. 

He,  to  whom  Heaven  is  disclosed,  knows  the 

eternal. 

— Lao-tze. 

Man  received  the  gift  of  the  divine  spirit  from 
H  eaven  .  .  .  and  what  in  us  corresponds  with 

this  gift  is  called  Tao  (divine)  which,  if  clearly  under¬ 
stood,  is  religion. 

1  know  well  why  the  divine  (Tao)  is  not 
clearly  understood:  the  more  endowed  men  cherish 
false  ideas  of  the  divine  and  those  who  are  not  spirit¬ 
ually  gifted  do  not  heed  it. 

The  wise  one  follows  clearly  the  guidance  of 
the  commandments  of  God,  and  his  deeds  and  instruc¬ 
tions  are  in  conformity  with  the  divine  mandate.  For 

32 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


33 


the  wise  one  is  supported  by  the  indwelling,  eternal  and 
immutable  truth  (conscience). 

The  Tao,  as  the  wise  perceives  it,  is,  owing  to 
the  immeasurable  plenitude  of  blessing  which  it  imparts, 
everywhere  so  abundant  and  clear,  and  yet  so  mysteri¬ 
ous  and  invisible  in  its  supernaturality. 

Therefore,  all  men  can,  regardless  of  their 
spiritual  limitations,  possess  some  knowledge  of  the 
Divinity  ...  all  men,  even  the  unendowed  are 
able  to  obey  the  commandments  of  God;  but  even  the 
most  intelligent  are  unable  to  accomplish  this  perfectly. 

The  greatness  and  sublimity  of  the  universe 
imparts  to  all  men  the  feeling  of  awe  and  admiration, 
and,  in  the  comparison  of  oneself  with  the  universe,  the 
feeling  of  one’s  own  unworthiness  and  impotence. 

The  Spirit  of  God,  dwelling  in  the  spirit  of 
man,  is  the  One  Who,  through  His  blessing  super¬ 
abundance,  causes  the  divine  virtue  in  us. 

Though  we  do  not  see  H  im,  and  though  we 
do  not  hear  Him,  we  perceive  H  is  Voice,  for  He  is 
eternally  inseparable  from  all  men.  The  Spirit  of  God 
decrees  that  all  men  become  better,  more  intelligent  and 
more  nearly  perfect  and  that  they  cleave  and  make 
others  cleave  to  His  commandments  in  the  evergrowing 
inward  unity;  for  this  Spirit  is  everywhere,  far  above 
us  and  yet  always  around  us. 

In  order  to  attain  the  divine,  one  must  first 


34  VIRTUES  _ 

endeavor  to  perfect  himself  in  virtues,  and  after  this 
attainment  he  will  be  permeated  with  humaneness. 

Humaneness  is  the  only  true  human  in  man, 
that  which  heightens  the  love  of  kindred  and  of  our 
neighbor  to  a  principle. 

Knowledge,  love  of  man  and  fortitude  are  the 
treasures  which  derive  from  the  world-permeating 
heavenly  virtue. 

For  Eternal  Truth  is  the  Divine  in  Heaven 
and  inward  truth  the  divine  in  the  soul. 

The  Divine  of  Heaven  and  earth  is  inconceiv¬ 
able,  infinite,  full  of  sublimity  and  wisdom;  it  is 
immutable  and  eternal. 

The  same  Divine  is  the  subhmest  which  reveals 
itself  in  the  profoundest  ground  (Conscience)  of  the 
soul. 

Only  the  one  who  on  earth  has  attained  the 
perfect  knowledge  of  truth,  will  be  enabled  to  reconcile 
and  unite  all  single  fragments  into  a  great  structure  of 
the  being  and  to  establish  it  as  the  fundamental  law 
of  the  world;  for  he  knows  the  Creator  and  Sustainer 
of  Heaven  and  earth.  Verily,  he  knows  Him!  And, 
therefore,  he  is  conscious  Whom  to  trust  and  to  Whom 
abandon  himself,  i.  e.  to  the  almightiness  of  His  Love, 
the  harmony  of  His  Creation  and  to  the  infinity  of  His 
Heaven. 

The  Book  of  Songs  says:  I  love  the  perfectly 
pure,  the  immaculate  and  glorified  virtue,  but  not  the 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


35 

loud  voice  and  high  sounding  words  which  are  calcu¬ 
lated  for  the  external  appearance  of  virtue. 

Never  and  never  will  people  be  converted  by 
high  sounding  phrases,  brilliant  words  and  outer  sem¬ 
blance!* 

Three  things  the  wise  must  esteem :  the  laws  of 
Heaven,  great  souls  and  the  words  of  the  noblest. 

Faithfulness  and  sincerity  are  the  highest 

virtues. 

Oh,  how,  the  law  of  the  duty  of  man  is  holy 
and  grand!  It  is  an  ocean  without  shores!  It  pro¬ 
duces  and  embraces  all  things;  it  attains  Heaven 
through  its  dignity. 

Perfection  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all 
creatures.  Without  perfection  no  creature  could  exist. 

A  superior  man  is  afflicted  by  his  impotence, 
but  not  by  being  ignored  or  misconceived  by  man.  His 
benevolence  is  extended  to  all. 

He  who  does  not  conscientiously  search  for  the 
good,  cannot  work  sincerely  for  his  betterment  and 
does  not  attain  perfection.  In  all  that  thou  doest, 
forget  not  that  thou  doest  it  before  the  sight  of  Heaven. 


*  The  preceding  seventeen  paragraphs  are  excerpted  from  the  work 
of  Reinhold  von  Plaenckner  on  Confucius’  Tchong-Yong,  Der  Unrpandel- 
bare  Seclengrund  (The  Immutable  Ground  of  the  Soul),  translated  and 
explained  from  the  Chinese,  F.  A.  Brockhaus,  Leipzig,  1878.  It  is 
astonishing  that  it  has  required  over  twenty  four  centuries  to  obtain  a 
due  insight  into  the  religious  profoundness  of  Confucius,  whose  teachings, 
to  quote  Plaenckner,  have  been  “corrupted”  and  reduced  to  a  mere 
ethical  system. 


36 


VIRTUES 


If  the  soul  is  not  moved  at  worship,  it  is  as  if 
we  did  not  pray. 

Thou  mayest  deceive  the  eye  of  man,  but  not 
those  of  Heaven.  Its  eyes  are  clear  and  permeating. 

Oh,  how  terribly  and  sublimely  marches  the 
judgment  of  the  Highest  Lord  of  Heaven! 

Riches  and  honor  are  good  .  .  .  but  if 

these  things  do  not  conform  with  virtue,  they  must  be 
despised. 

The  honorable  one  looks  on  virtue,  the  low- 
minded  on  riches.  The  former  follows  the  commands 
of  the  law  and  the  latter  his  profit. 

The  virtuous  one  finds  his  felicity  only  in  the 
possession  of  virtue. 

Admiration  of  virtue  without  imitation  has  no 

merit. 

The  superior  man  loves  the  good  and  pursues 
it;  apart  from  this  he  has  no  likes  and  dislikes. 

It  is  better  to  have  virtue  with  want  and 
ignominy,  than  wealth  and  honor  without  virtue. 

The  virtuous  one  is  hard  to  satisfy,  but  easy 
to  serve.  Nothing  that  thou  doest  to  please  him  satis¬ 
fies  him  unless  it  is  strictly  right. 

The  good  man  is  loved  by  his  good  neighbors 
and  hated  by  his  bad  ones. 

The  truly  eminent  man  is  genuine  and  straight¬ 
forward;  he  loves  righteousness,  weighs  people’s  words 
and  looks  at  their  countenances.  He  desires  to  help 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


37 


everybody.  That  is  the  eminent  man,  though  he  may 
not  be  a  famous  one. 

Thou  shouldst  love  thy  fellow  man  with  all 
the  power  and  intensity  of  thy  affection. 

— Confucius. 

The  law  of  the  great  study,  or  practical  phil¬ 
osophy,  consists  in  re-establishing  and  developing  into 
light  the  luminous  principle  of  reason  (conscience) 
which  we  have  received  from  heaven;  in  regenerating 
mankind,  and  in  placing  definitely  our  destiny  in  Per¬ 
fection  or  the  Supreme  Good. 

The  great  man  is  the  one  who  has  never  lost 
the  innocence  and  candor  of  his  childhood. 

The  chief  things  to  be  aimed  at  are  virtue  and 
benevolence. 

He  who  feels  no  shame  of  evil  and  does  not 
hate  it  is  no  man.  Shame  and  hate  of  evil  are  the 
beginning  of  virtue. 

He  who  has  no  compassion  is  no  man. 

The  rule  of  life  is  reciprocity.  It  consists  in 
rightness  of  heart  and  of  loving  my  neighbor  as  myself. 

— Mencius. 


Greece 


Calmly  bear  the  decrees  of  God. 

— Thales. 

Virtue  endures  eternally;  it  is  imperishable. 

— Solon. 

On  steep  rocks  dwells  virtue,  praised  by  the 
songs  of  holy  virgins.  No  mortal  sight  can  observe 
or  approach  it,  unless  labor  and  effort  and  man’s  highest 
courage  uplifts  him  to  it. 

— Simonides. 

Mortal!  Take  the  right  faith.  It  is  from 
God  that  humanity  has  its  origin. 

Wisdom  and  virtue  are  our  best  security. 

Always  exercise  justice  with  diligence  in  words 
and  deeds. 

If  thou  canst  do  good,  thou  shouldst  do  it; 
here  power  is  the  neighbor  of  necessity. 

— Pythagoras. 

Grant,  Oh  Father,  that  I  remain  virtuous,  of 
pure  conduct  and  pure  hand! 

Willingly  bows  the  wise  man  before  eternal 

destiny. 

Clear  and  simple  is  the  voice  of  truth. 

38 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


39 


No  pain  can  injure  the  soul  of  the  free  man, 
except  unworthiness. 

When  one  seeks  fortune  through  wrong,  his 
evil  conscience  tortures  him  unto  death. 

— Aeschylos. 

Men  are  a  dream  of  shadows,  but  where  a  ray 
from  God  is  sent  there  shines  a  clear  day  to  a  beautiful 
life. 

— Pindar. 

Never  forget  the  reverence  due  to  Divinity. 

There  is  an  eternal  unwritten  law  brought  by 
Divinity.  This  law  is  not  of  today  nor  of  yesterday, 
but  it  impresses  everybody  and  extends  as  far  as  the 
infinite  vault  of  heavens  and  the  immense  surface  of  the 
earth. 

No  commands  of  man  I  respect  so  highly  that 
I  obey  them  before  the  immutable  and  unwritten  laws. 

May  the  aim  of  my  life  be  to  retain  pious 
purity  in  word  and  deed,  and  to  be  faithful  to  eternal 
righteousness,  which  descends  from  the  heights  of 
heaven. 

The  one  who  is  conscious  of  his  soul’s  nobility 
will  not  endure  a  dishonorable  life. 

Happy  is  he  to  whom,  of  all  gifts,  God  gives 
a  clear  mind!  Oh,  man,  in  thy  pride  do  not  violate 
the  laws  of  God ! 

Not  words,  but  deeds  impart  splendor  to  our 


life. 


40 


VIRTUES 


The  punishment  of  God  consists  in  blinding  the 

heart. 

— Sophocles. 

Truth  remains  truth  even  if  it  hurts. 

No  one  can  withdraw  from  the  might  of  love. 
Wisdom  and  piety  are  never  seized  by  violence. 
May  a  modest  mind  always  adorn  us,  the  most 
beautiful  gift  of  God. 

The  most  beautiful  glory  for  the  children  of 
a  noble  father  is  to  equal  him  in  virtue. 

Nothing  thrives  that  is  born  of  sin. 

— Euripides. 

Reflect  and  do  not  disdain  the  invisible  sub¬ 
stance;  by  their  effect  thou  wilt  appreciate  their  power 
and  worship  Divinity. 

Who,  do  you  believe,  has  brought  the  invisible 
laws?  It  is  God  Who  has  prescribed  them  to  man, 
and  the  first  law  of  all,  recognized  by  the  whole  world, 
commands  worship  of  God. 

That  which  comes  from  virtue  is  beautiful  and 

good. 

Man  is  not  in  the  least  bettered  by  gold  and 
silver,  but  the  words  of  the  wise  enrich  with  virtue 
those  who  possess  it. 

Ingratitude  is  injustice. 

— Socrates. 

The  one  is  the  principle  of  all.  It  is  God  Who 
rules  all  things,  always  one,  always  by  Himself,  immov- 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 


41 


able,  only  similar  to  Himself  and  different  from  all 
the  rest. 

— Philolaus. 

The  Divine  is  the  Beautiful,  the  Good  and  that 
which  is  similar  to  it. 

The  best  course  of  life  is  the  exercise  of  justice, 
and  to  live  and  to  die  for  the  sake  of  every  other  duty. 

Respect  nothing  more  highly  than  what  is  just, 
not  even  life  itself. 

Blessed  is  he  who  attains  wisdom  and  right 
understanding,  even  though  it  be  not  until  his  old  age. 

— Plato. 

Oh  virtue,  thou  highest  praise  of  life 
to  die  for  thy  beauty  is  enviable !  I  hou  bendest  the 
mind  to  the  highest  and  most  splendid.  Immortal  thou 
art! 

The  richest  and  noblest  pleasure  is  the  one 
which  a  good  man  reaps  from  virtuous  deeds. 

Perfect  virtue  and  perfect  life  impart  beatitude. 

Friends  are  one  soul  in  two  bodies. 

Justice  is  the  virtue  of  treating  each  one  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  merits. 

— A  ristotle. 

Hail  to  Thee,  Oh  Thou  most  glorious  of 
immortals.  Being,  adored  under  a  thousand  names, 
Zeus,  eternally  mighty,  Thou  master  of  nature,  Thou, 
Who  rulest  all  things  by  law!  It  is  the  duty  of  each 
mortal  to  address  Thee  with  his  prayers,  for  of  Thee 


42 _ VIRTUES _ 

we  are  born  and  it  is  Thou  Who  has  endowed  us  with 
speech,  we  the  only  ones  of  all  the  creatures  which  live 
and  creep  on  earth.  To  Thee  I  offer  my  praises,  to 
Thee  the  eternal  homage  of  my  songs !  Supreme  King 
of  the  universe.  Thy  empire  extends  over  all  things. 
Nothing  on  earth,  Oh  benevolent  God,  nothing  is 
achieved  without  Thee;  nothing  in  the  eternal  and 
Divine  heaven,  nothing  in  the  seas,  except  crime  com¬ 
mitted  by  the  wicked  in  his  folly  .  .  .  Zeus, 
author  of  all  the  good!  God,  hidden  in  dark  clouds, 
redeem  men  from  their  fateful  ignorance,  disperse  the 
darkness  of  !  their  souls,  Oh  our  Father,  and  give  them 
to  understand  the  thought  with  which  Thou  rulest  the 
world  with  justice. 

— Hymn  of  Cleanthes. 

Our  fatherland  is  the  region  whence  we 
descended  here  below.  It  is  there  that  our  Father  has 
His  dwelling.  But  how  are  we  to  return  thither;  what 
means  are  we  to  employ  for  this  journey? 

Each  man  must  begin  to  make  himself  beautiful  and 
divine,  to  obtain  the  view  of  the  Beautiful  and  of 
Divinity.  We  are  by  no  means  separated  from  the 
One,  we  are  not  distant  from  Him  ...  for  we 
derive  our  breath  from  Him  and  in  Him  we  subsist. 

— Plotinus. 


Rome 


Nothing  more  divine  gave  God  to  man  than 
his  conscience. 

The  sublimest  state  of  virtues  is  conscience. 

Reason  demands  that  virtues  be  the  rulers  of 
all  things. 

Virtue,  magnanimity,  patience  and  fortitude 
bring  balm  into  the  wounds  of  grief. 

All  glory  of  virtue  consists  in  action. 

No  duty  is  more  necessary  than  the  fulfillment 
of  gratitude. 

Nothing  is  more  lovable  than  virtue;  nothing 
conquers  the  heart  better  than  virtue. 

The  crown  of  old  age  is  esteem,  but  only  after 
a  virtuous  youth  can  this  be  attained. 

Only  a  strong  and  wise  man  is  capable  of 
exercising  justice. 

Glory  and  esteem  to  that  state  where  the  moral 
law  towers  above  all  apparent  gain. 

Love  is  almighty  and  fear  impotent. 

True  goodness  of  heart  extends  to  the  whole 
humanity. 

Without  love  and  benevolence  life  has  no 
attraction. 


43 


44 


VIRTUES 


Love  of  man  manifests  itself  in  a  twofold 
manner:  through  free  giving  and  through  rewarding 
good  deeds. 

Without  justice  there  is  no  virtue. 

Friendship  is  nothing  else  than  the  most  perfect 
unity  with  respect  to  religious  principles  and  humanity, 
joined  with  benevolence  and  tenderness. 

Without  truth  there  is  no  friendship. 

The  ground  for  the  steadfastness  and  con¬ 
stancy  for  which  we  are  searching  in  friendship  is 
faithfulness. 

In  friendship  there  is  no  fiction  and  no  disguise ; 
all  is  genuine  and  free. 

Worthy  of  friendship  are  those  who  in  them¬ 
selves  possess  the  ground  of  love,  a  rare  species  of 
man,  as,  generally,  all  excellent  things  are. 

Make  it  a  holy  law  of  friendship  that  we 
demand  nothing  shameful  and  that  we  accede  to  no 
such  request. 

Friendship  is  possible  only  among  virtuous  men. 

True  friendship  lasts  forever. 

A  short  life  is  long  enough  to  permit  one  to 
live  virtuously  and  honorably. 

Death  is  no  evil,  but  something  good. 

In  the  senseless  tumult  of  battle,  in  the  hand 
to  hand  fight  there  is  something  base  and  brutal. 

— Cicero. 


45 


EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 

Virtue  is  something  high,  sublime,  royal, 
invincible,  indefatigable. 

May  virtue  be  everywhere  in  the  foreground; 
may  it  carry  the  banner! 

Faith  is  the  holiest  good  of  the  human  heart. 

One  should  do  all  one  can  to  prove  his  grati¬ 
tude. 

Benevolence  gladdens  constantly  the  grateful; 
the  ungrateful,  however,  but  once. 

The  ingratitude  of  many  should  not  keep  us 
from  serving  humanity. 

Accustom  thyself  to  speak  the  truth  and  to 
listen  to  truth. 

We  must  follow  our  conscience,  not  the  judg¬ 
ment  of  man. 

How  much  religion  demands — the  love  of  our 
neighbor,  justice,  faithfulness — all  of  which  is  not  in 
the  tables  of  civil  law! 

Virtue  is  difficult  to  find;  it  requires  a  leader 
and  guide,  but  passions  are  learned  without  a  teacher. 

Nothing  so  easily  inspires  the  mind  with  good 
as  the  intercourse  with  virtuous  men. 

To  no  one  is  virtue  closed;  it  is  open  and  acces¬ 
sible  to  all.  It  invites  everyone,  free-born,  freed,  slaves, 
kings  and  ostracized;  it  regards  neither  family  nor 
wealth — man  alone  suffices  it. 

Joy  is  not  a  reward  of  virtue,  nor  a  cause  of 
virtue,  but  an  addition.  The  highest  good  lies  in  the 


46 


VIRTUES 


inwardness  of  conscience  and  the  essence  of  the  noble 
soul. 

Virtue  acts  not  through  compulsion. 

Before  all  things  we  must  look  into  ourselves. 

Why  do  we  deceive  ourselves?  Not  outside 
of  us,  but  in  us  dwells  our  infirmity — it  cleaves  to  our 
inwardness. 

Thou  givest  much,  even  if  thou  givest  nothing 
but  a  good  example. 

No  one  is  punished  so  severely  as  the  one  who 
is  placed  on  the  rack  of  repentance. 

The  righteous  soul  is  full  of  love  toward  others; 
it  is  born  to  mutual  help. 

What  is  the  most  glorious  thing  in  the  life  of 
man?  To  rise  in  spirit  above  the  menaces  and  promises 
of  fate,  to  bear  misfortune  with  cheer,  to  reject  from 
the  heart  all  evil  thoughts,  to  raise  pure  hands  to 
heaven,  not  to  envy  your  neighbor  his  possessions,  a 
benevolent  heart,  and  each  moment  to  be  ready  to 
die. 

By  whomsoever  thou  art  derided  and  offended, 
thou  wilt  not  suffer  when  virtue  is  with  thee — offense 
never  reaches  the  wise. 

There  is  no  more  difficult  art  than  the  art  of 

life. 

— Seneca. 

Thou  art  a  detached  fragment  of  Divinity; 


47 


_ EXCERPTS  FROM  SCRIPTURES 

thou  containest  in  thyself  a  portion  of  its  Being.  Why, 
then,  art  thou  so  ignorant  of  thy  noble  birth? 

I  am  a  rational  creature;  it  is  my  duty  to  praise 
God.  This  is  my  occupation.  In  this  task  I  never 
fail,  and  I  invite  thee  to  sing  praises  with  me. 

God  h  as  not  limited  Himself  only  to  create 
thee;  He  has  confided  thee  to  thyself,  that  thou  guard- 
est  thyself.  Dost  thou  not  remember  this?  And  wilt 
thou  contaminate  what  He  has  confided  in  thee? 

H  ave  no  will  but  the  will  of  God,  and  who 
shall  restrain  thee,  who  shall  compel  thee  more  than 
He?  When  thou  hast  such  a  guide,  and  conformest 
thy  will  and  inclination  to  His  Will,  what  needest 
thou  fear  of  disappointment? 

— Epictetus. 


VIRTUES,  THE  SPIRIT  AND  REFLEX  OF 
DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES 


The  principle  of  virtues  lies  in  the  Superspirit  of 
Divine  Attributes,  whose  relative  and  formal  reflex  con¬ 
stitutes  the  transcendent  essence  and  form  of  conscience. 
For  this  reason  the  form  of  conscience  is  the  under¬ 
dwelling  form  of  the  spiritual  soul,  precisely  as  the 
spiritual  form  of  the  soul  is  the  essential  form  of  the 
physical  body.  The  spiritual  will  is,  as  we  all  know, 
not  an  independent  wilfulness,  for  the  will  must  cleave 
to  worthiness,  fortitude  and  blissfulness  in  order  to  be 
esteemable,  strong  and  felicitous.  Nor  is  the  intellect 
a  mere  instrument  of  indiscriminate  knowledge,  like 
memory.  For  the  sake  of  its  dignity  and  power,  it 
must  seek  truth,  think  wisely  and  express  itself  with¬ 
out  deceiving  duplicity.  And  the  heart  cannot  be  a 
mere  conglomerate  of  all  sorts  of  feelings,  but  must  be 
a  repository  of  love,  righteousness  and  goodness,  as  we 
rightly  expect  from  every  man  who  is  not  insane  or 
totally  depraved.  Thus  there  is  a  dominating  might 
in  conscience  which  relates  to  each  form  of  our  soul, 
and  this  might  is  the  formal  Superspirit  of  Divine 
Attributes. 


48 


_  SPIRIT  OF  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES  49 

There  are  no  accidents  in  Divine  revelation  and 
operation.  Every  act  of  God  is  eternally  formal,  law¬ 
ful  and  dominating.  If  man  does  not  see  this  truth, 
it  is  his  own  fault,  which  is  mainly  due  to  his  indiffer¬ 
ence  in  contemplating  the  essence  and  form  of  his  own 
conscience.  Consequently,  the  man  who  does  not  con¬ 
template  the  Superspirit  of  God,  thereby  fails  to  make 
himself  worthy  to  know  the  great  principle  and  destiny 
of  his  essential  spirit,  and,  therefore,  must  remain  in 
that  spiritual  darkness  which  so  depresses  him. 

Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  are  clearly  expressed  in 
conscience  as  the  transcendent  manifestation  of  the  Life 
of  God.  Holiness  reveals  the  determining  might,  Truth 
the  defining  might,  and  Love  the  sentimental  might 
of  God.  Each  of  these  attributes  constitutes  a  super- 
essential  form,  manifesting  its  unconditional  and  incom¬ 
parable  absoluteness  in  conscience,  as  well  as  in  all 
important  and  final  acts  of  the  self-conscious  and  self- 
sentient  will.  Lrom  these  attributes  emanates  the 
essence  of  our  life,  the  sublime  deeds,  the  clear  and 
unerring  visions  and  the  overwhelming  sentiments  of 
sacrifice,  righteousness  and  goodness. 

Our  psychic  essence  consists  of  self-conscious  and 
self-sentient  volition,  and,  as  such,  must  adhere  to  the 
supreme  objective  superessence  from  which  our  sub¬ 
jective  essence  of  life  is  derived,  in  order  to  partici¬ 
pate  in  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love. 

The  very  expressions,  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love, 


50 


VIRTUES 


convey  the  meaning  of  absolute  might.  They  are  man¬ 
ifestly  Divine  properties  and  not  our  properties.  But 
our  relative  properties,  the  will,  intellect  and  senti¬ 
ment,  are  for  the  participation  in  Divine  properties  or 
attributes.  There  is  no  other  meaning  to  our  life,  and 
any  other  alleged  or  pretended  meaning  is  utterly 
illogical  and  absurd. 

Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  are  the  superessential 
ground  of  logical  laws.  In  intellectual  visions,  no  clear¬ 
ness  is  possible  without  this  absolute  ground  of  logic. 
Holiness  as  the  determining  principle ,  Truth  as  the 
clarifying  process  and  Love  as  the  sanctifying  effect 
are  the  profoundest  laws  of  all  our  thinking  and  the 
root  and  branch  of  our  whole  life.  Our  will  must 
want  holiness  for  the  sake  of  its  own  worthiness,  and 
all  its  motives  must  be  directed  toward  sanctification, 
because  sanctification  constitutes  the  glorious  participa¬ 
tion  in  Divine  Life.  Our  intellect  must  cleave  to 
Truth  for  the  sake  of  its  infallibility  of  visions,  and 
our  heart  must  be  the  vessel  of  the  purest  and  most 
intense  love,  for  the  sake  of  the  eternal  fruition  of  vir¬ 
tuous  life.  There  is  no  escape  from  sanctification,  for 
sanctification  is  the  very  reason  of  our  existence;  it  is 
our  destiny,  the  life  eternal  in  its  most  concrete  meaning. 

Consequently,  each  Divine  Attribute  is  the  superes¬ 
sential  prototype,  the  transcendent  spirit  and  the  abso¬ 
lute  demand  of  our  life.  Its  logic  is  as  clear  as  its 
demand  is  irrevocable.  Let  us  only  enter  into  this 


SPIRIT  OF  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES 


51 


inwardness  of  our  conscience,  and  we  shall  clearly  see 
how  our  will,  intellect  and  sentiment  are  continually 
circling  around  the  Divine  Attributes.  Even  the  wicked 
cannot  free  himself  from  them.  It  is  always  the  sanc¬ 
tity  of  motives  and  deeds,  always  the  absolute  testi¬ 
mony  of  truth,  always  the  purity  and  unselfishness  of 
sentiments,  which  cause  the  judgment  of  every  theory 
and  practice  of  life. 

The  profoundness  and  greatness  of  the  soul  lies  in 
the  cleaving  to  conscience,  the  superspiritual  reflex  of 
Divine  Attributes.  Let  no  one  be  deceived  or  con¬ 
fused  by  any  statement  to  the  contrary,  for  there  is 
no  theory  which  does  not  depend  for  its  direct  sup¬ 
port  on  conscience,  and  no  practice  which  is  not  con¬ 
fronted  by  conscience.  No  scripture  is  as  holy  and  no 
guide  as  powerful  as  this  formal  Superspirit  of  God. 
Theories  and  scriptures  may  contribute  to  the  awaken¬ 
ing  of  conscience,  but  Divine  operation  is  always  first 
in  causing  the  inward  contact  with  the  soul. 

In  considering  an  important  statement,  scriptural  or 
oral,  why  does  the  soul  pause  and  think  so  seriously? 
Because  it  consults  its  conscience.  What  does  it  mean 
to  consult  conscience?  It  means  the  search  for  abso¬ 
lute  certainty  of  the  purity  of  intention,  of  the  clearness 
of  this  purity,  and  of  its  sacred  and  beneficent  effect 
in  us  and  in  others,  which  only  an  implicit  faith  in  the 
absolute  Holiness  of  God  can  impart. 

Through  scriptures  and  teachers,  God  evokes  the 


VIRTUES 


52 

search  after  Himself,  but  it  is  always  He  Who  first 
causes  this  summons.  Words  are  only  cooperative 
instruments,  and  therein  consists  their  dignity  and 
power;  but  the  first  act  is  the  call  of  the  Voice  of  God, 
a  call  which,  if  responded  to  readily  and  joyfully, 
crowns  the  soul  with  glory,  infuses  fortitude  and  fills 
it  with  heavenly  joy,  as  only  a  responsive  child  of 
God  can  be  filled. 

The  child  of  God  is  not  a  child  in  the  human  sense, 
as  the  deriders  of  religion  like  to  insinuate.  The  child 
of  God  is  the  greatest  being  in  God’s  creation,  the  par¬ 
ticipator  in  Divinity,  the  cooperator  with  Divine  mights, 
creative  and  operative,  and  the  whole-souled  affirmer  of 
all  that  is  holiest,  truest  and  best. 

The  child  of  God  is  the  eternal  emanation  of  Divine 
worship,  the  highest  heroism  personified  and  the  blessed 
inmate  of  eternity.  He  is  the  resplendent  torchbearer 
of  truth,  the  sage  among  the  wisest,  and  the  sincerest, 
most  veracious,  and  most  modest  friend  and  helper. 

The  child  of  God  is  the  living  vessel  of  unrestrained 
sacrifice,  the  cooperative  guardian  and  enforcer  of  jus¬ 
tice,  and  the  immortal  example  of  benevolence,  mag¬ 
nanimity,  holy  enthusiasm  and  spiritual  beauty.  In 
the  highest  existential  states,  the  child  of  God  is  the 
archangel  par  excellence,  the  highest  eminence  after 
God,  endowed  with  powers  incomprehensible  to  the 
human  mind.  If  mankind  had  but  one  glimpse  of  the 
vision  of  this  existential  eminence,  all  pride,  vanity, 


SPIRIT  OF  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES 


53 


envy,  greed  and  lust  would  vanish  like  a  straw  that  is 
thrown  into  a  fiery  furnace. 

Virtues  are  the  moving  spirit  to  the  noblest  life,  and 
all  worthy  men  want  to  adore,  to  contemplate  and  to 
embrace  their  spirit.  Even  the  low  soul  is  influenced 
by  their  magnificence,  for  intimately  it  hates  itself  for 
its  lack  of  virtue.  Our  rise  is  the  rise  of  virtues  in  our 
characters,  and  our  debasement  is  due  to  our  blindness 
to  and  neglect  of  virtues.  True  progress  is  impossible 
without  progress  in  virtues.  No  nation,  no  creed  and 
no  individual  is  safe  that  does  not  cling  to  virtuous 
progress.  Thus  it  must  be,  for  perfectibility  is  the 
absolute  law  of  progress. 

Divine  perfection  is  the  moving  might  of  holiness. 
Its  purpose  is  to  sanctify  each  being  that  has  the  right 
and  duty  to  participate  in  Divine  life.  Thus  sanctifica¬ 
tion  is  the  absolute  condition  of  this  participation.  Its 
path,  its  light  and  atmosphere  are  virtues,  the  immortal 
powers  of  the  soul.  Weak  souls  cannot  participate  in 
Divine  grandeurs,  for  they  do  not  live  on  Divine  gran¬ 
deurs  but  on  Divine  mercy;  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  our  souls  cry:  Oh  Lord!  Have  mercy  on  us! 


VIRTUES,  THE  HIGHEST  GIFT  AND 
ETERNAL  REASON  OF  LIFE 


Our  life  is  a  gift  of  God.  Neither  we  nor  any 
creature  has  obtained  life  by  virtue  of  its  own  forces. 
Nor  is  our  spiritual  life  a  “necessary”  emanation  from 
Divinity,  for  there  is  no  necessity  in  God.  Necessity 
is  a  state  of  dependence  from  the  absolute  Superbeing. 
The  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  of  God  are  super- 
essential  and,  consequently,  absolutely  free.  Perfec¬ 
tion  of  God  is  intrinsically  superessential  freedom. 
Were  it  not  for  this  fact,  the  soul  could  have  neither 
relative  freedom  nor  any  consciousness  of  freedom. 

Freedom  is  essentially  a  spiritual  law,  the  relative 
reflex  of  Divine  Perfection.  Those  who  are  not  con¬ 
scious  of  this  insisting  fact  in  conscience,  must  inevitably 
become  the  victims  of  a  mechanistic  fatalism,  this  latter 
view  being  strictly  logical  from  their  viewpoint.  If 
these  thinkers,  however,  were  more  exact  in  their  def¬ 
initions,  they  would  use  no  such  terms  as  “absolute 
determinism”  or  “unconscious  will.”  “Absolute  deter¬ 
minism”  presupposes  an  Absolute  Determinator,  Who 
cannot  be  conceived  without  the  attributes  of  Holiness, 
Truth  and  Love,  and  “unconscious  will”  is  non-existent 

54 


GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE 


55 


and  impossible.  There  is  no  will  without  consciousness. 

Freedom  is  frequently  called  the  greatest  gift  of  our 
life,  but  this  is  only  true  in  a  processive  sense;  for  the 
principal  purpose  of  freedom  is  the  cooperation  with 
Divine  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love.  Remove  these  holy 
mights,  as  the  prime  object  of  our  life’s  endeavor,  from 
our  relative  freedom,  and  this  freedom  would  be  worse 
than  meaningless,  it  would  become  a  terror.  Actually, 
the  gift  of  life  is  the  gift  of  freedom  for  virtues,  the 
participating,  cooperating  and  affirming  powers  in 
Divine  life.  The  very  fact  that  our  life  is  a  free  gift 
of  Divine  Love  leads  us  to  the  actuality  of  giving.  No 
one  is  satisfied  with  life  unless  he  can  give,  and  every 
soul  hates  a  man  who  never  gives.  Giving  is  the  test 
and  proof  of  his  worthiness  and  of  his  lasting  joy. 

Each  virtue  is  a  transcendent  form  and  mode  of 
giving.  Through  humility  the  soul  renders  itself  to 
God,  as  to  the  supreme  Giver  of  its  own  life.  This  is 
the  soul’s  sublimest  determination,  by  virtue  of  which 
the  holy  mutuality  and  harmony  of  the  soul  with  God 
is  realized;  it  is  the  beginning,  the  course  and  the  end 
of  the  most  intimate  and  pressing  necessity  of  our  life. 
The  slightest  neglect  of  humility  causes  disorder,  and 
the  disregard  of  humility  causes  spiritual  and  social 
anarchy.  All  sins  and  crimes  may  be  traced  back 
to  lack  of  humility  and  all  spiritual  rise  and  progress 
to  its  realization. 

The  vision  and  the  sense  of  the  divine  gift  of  life 


VIRTUES 


56 

cannot  be  attained  without  this  fundamental  virtue. 
The  soul  is  not  the  absolute  possessor  of  its  own  life; 

it  is  only  a  relative  possessor,  for  it  cannot  give  life 

/ 

to  itself.  Hence  the  very  origin  of  the  soul’s  existence 
has  its  place  in  the  state  of  humility,  the  most  glorious 
state  of  its  determination.  All  honor  flows  from  this 
state  and  all  power  derives  from  the  might  that  this 
state  imparts.  There  is  no  other  glory  for  the  soul 
than  the  affinity  to  and  the  affiliation  with  God,  and 
there  is  no  ground  for  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude 
except  the  religious  ground  of  humility.  The  destiny 
of  participation  in  Divine  Life  is  of  the  most  real  impor¬ 
tance,  and  humility  is  the  sole  course  of  its  fulfillment. 
Humility  is  the  answer,  the  reflex  and  the  resounding 
of  Divine  Glory  in  the  soul. 

Fortitude  is  the  virtuous  power  of  the  course  of  giv¬ 
ing,  for  its  superessential  origin  is  Perfection,  the  per¬ 
fect  might  of  giving.  From  this  holy  source  flows 
fortitude  into  the  humble  soul,  that  it  may  become 
strong  and  mighty.  The  child  of  God  is  a  great  spirit. 
It  must  possess  great  will,  intellect  and  sentiment,  as 
the  actuating  power  for  sanctification,  which  incessantly 
urges  to  spiritual  greatness.  God  uplifts  and  expands 
the  virtuous  soul  in  order  that  it  may  adequately  repre¬ 
sent  God’s  Own  Image,  and  that  it  may  cooperate  in 
uplifting  and  expanding  other  souls.  God  delights  in 
the  cooperation  of  His  heavenly  children  with  His 


GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE 


57 


Perfection  and,  correspondingly,  virtuous  souls  delight 
in  the  cooperation  wi  th  H  is  holy  mights. 

No  efforts  are’  spared  to  reach  this  great  goal  on 
the  part  of  the  virtuous  soul.  Fie  knows  and  he  feels 
that  without  fortitude,  invincible  power  is  impossible. 
Thus  each  attempt  for  virtue  begins  with  the  purifica¬ 
tion  of  the  heart.  Then,  with  increased  and  concen¬ 
trated  efforts  of  the  will  and  intellect,  virtues  are 
attained  and  one  by  one  stored  in  the  heart  until  it 
is  filled  with  them.  This  is  the  school  of  fortitude, 
in  which  the  mastery  of  power  is  attained.  Power 
consists  intrinsically  in  the  power  of  giving,  and  the 
greatest  giving  powers  are  virtues.  God  gives  them, 
that  the  soul  may  give  them  again  and  again  to  other 
souls,  and  rejoice  with  them  in  the  transcendent  gifts 
of  God. 

Beatitude  is  the  rejoicing  in  transcendent  gifts.  No 
matter  how  much  the  soul  may  obtain  of  all  the  exter¬ 
nal  riches,  none  satisfies  the  inward  longing  except  the 
gift  of  giving;  for  in  the  act  of  giving,  the  soul  not 
only  proves  its  great  dignity  and  power  but  also 
rejoices  in  this  proof.  This  proof  is  its  highest  fruition, 
which  never  abates. 

A  gift,  and  particularly  a  spiritual  gift,  stands  of 
its  own  greatness;  it  lifts  itself  above  all  the  rubbish 
of  passions  and  is  the  sole  consolation  of  the  inwardly 
weak  and  harrassed.  If  but  once  I  have  accomplished 
a  distinguished,  unselfish  deed,  which  means  that  I 


58 


VIRTUES 


have  given  truly  and  unreservedly,  that  once  has  a  tre¬ 
mendous  power  of  consolation  and  resuscitation  of  the 
latent  forces  of  giving.  The  taste  of  heaven  is  pre¬ 
cisely  a  taste  of  this  power.  Once  truly  tasted,  it 
makes  the  soul  hungry  for  it,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
proves  the  emptiness  of  life  without  the  power  of  giving. 

Heaven  is  essentially  a  life  of  giving,  and  only  con¬ 
sequently  everlasting,  for  gifts  can  never  be  eliminated; 
their  power  is  immortal.  Who  has  forgotten  the  sac¬ 
rifices  of  our  great  prophets  and  teachers?  Perhaps 
only  the  debased.  We  all  live  on  their  highest  aspira¬ 
tions,  on  their  profoundest  thoughts  and  sentiments,  and 
on  their  sufferings.  Our  whole  rise  and  spiritual  cul¬ 
ture  is  the  effect  of  the  immortal  gifts  of  their  lives. 
They  passed  from  this  earth,  and  followers  upon  fol¬ 
lowers  have  passed  and  are  still  passing,  but  their 
great  gifts  have  never  passed.  On  the  contrary,  their 
potency  becomes  greater  and  greater. 

The  life  of  the  highest  souls  is  a  life  of  incessant 
giving.  This  constitutes  their  greatest  honor  and  joy. 
Among  them,  too,  is  a  competition;  not  a  competition 
of  taking  but  of  giving.  There  the  taking  is  a  neces¬ 
sity,  and  the  giving  the  exertion  of  the  utmost  freedom 
of  a  sanctified  heart;  precisely  the  opposite  from  our 
low  life  on  this  earth.  This  holy  performance  consti¬ 
tutes  their  angelhood,  the  true  reflex  of  the  beatifying 
eternity  of  God.  No  one  will  ever  reach  the  virtue 
of  beatitude  until  he  understands  this  fact  and  until 


GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE 


59 


he  embraces  the  giving  and  beatifying  might  with  his 
whole  heart. 

The  light  of  God  is  the  most  shining  gift  in  the  whole 
creation.  Its  permeating  transparence  is  animating  and 
appalling.  It  animates  the  virtuous  to  the  highest 
visions,  and  it  appals  and  frightens  the  sinner  through 
its  exposure  of  his  evil  conscience.  There  is  no  recess 
of  darkness  into  which  it  does  not  send  its  illuminating 
might. 

Thus  the  adherence  to  Divine  Light  is  the  neces¬ 
sary  virtue  of  the  intellect.  True  understanding  is 
impossible  without  this  virtue,  as  we  plainly  see  in  the 
stranding  of  so  many  human  theories  on  abstract  and, 
consequently,  incomprehensible  substances,  and  on  the 
still  less  comprehensible  atoms  and  electrons.  These 
little  things  do  not  shine  with  universal  splendor,  nor 
do  they  reveal  to  us  the  path  to  honor,  truth  and  love, 
the  real  path  to  a  worthy  character.  Thus  we  see 
how  adventurous  and  dangerous  becomes  our  mind 
when  the  gift  of  Divine  Light  is  not  heeded. 

It  is  God’s  absolute  definition  that  the  virtuous  soul 
strives  for,  not  his  own  personal  and  subjective  views. 
His  admiration  for  truth  is  surpassed  only  by  most 
inward  gratitude,  for  he  is  conscious  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  avail  oneself  of  and  to  delight  in  the  Light 
of  God,  but  he  must  press  truth  into  the  very  inward¬ 
ness  of  his  heart,  and  live,  suffer  and  die  for  it.  The 
gift  of  Divine  Light  demands  the  whole-souled  affirma- 


60 


VIRTUES 


tion  of  this  heavenly  light,  and  the  one  who  does  not 
affirm  it  is  not  worthy  of  it.  Great  souls  live  in  the 
Light  of  God.  It  is  their  constant  animation  and  won¬ 
der,  always  holding  their  minds  in  an  enrapturing 
harmony  of  visions.  This  gift  is  the  secret  of  logical 
power,  which  in  higher  spheres  grows  to  a  magnitude 
incomprehensible  to  the  mind  of  man. 

The  virtue  of  wisdom  is  a  gift  of  Divine  Omnisci¬ 
ence.  The  self-consciousness  of  the  soul  is  not  left  to 
itself.  Having  truth  as  its  supreme  object  of  vision, 
it  receives  the  formal  support  of  God  through  the 
virtue  of  wisdom,  the  holy  rule  by  which  truth  is 
attained.  Truth  cannot  be  attained  without  wisdom, 
and  while  wisdom  pertains  mainly  to  self-consciousness, 
it  involves  the  will  and  sentiment  as  well.  Unless  there 
is  a  will  for  truth — not  a  mere  intention,  but  a  strong 
determination — there  is  no  possibility  of  possessing  wis¬ 
dom.  And  where  sentiment  for  truth  is  lagging  the 
will  has  no  power.  The  gifts  of  God  must  be  desired 
with  the  whole  soul  in  order  to  be  effective,  for  no 
gift  can  be  effective  that  is  forced  into  the  soul. 

Consequently,  each  soul  receives  only  such  volume 
of  virtuous  gifts  as  it  desires  and  is  predisposed  and 
prepared  to  hold,  which  means  to  adore,  to  esteem,  to 
conceive  and  to  love.  If  virtues  ate  not  considered  as 
gifts  of  God,  they  can  neither  be  adored  nor  rightly 
understood,  much  less  can  they  be  intensely  loved. 

The  gift  of  virtues  is  the  supreme  object  of  love;  it 


_ GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE  61 

is  the  love  of  God  Himself,  by  virtue  of  which  the 
most  tangible  and  intimate  revelation  of  His  Holiness, 
Truth  and  Love  is  effected.  Only  the  anthropomor- 
phically  perverted  mind  cannot  see  this  patent  religious 
fact.  Wisdom  is  the  divine  light  for  personal  guidance, 
and  all  errors  result  from  the  lack  of  this  virtue.  With¬ 
out  wisdom,  no  theory  of  life  can  be  rightly  conceived 
and  no  right  practice  of  life  accomplished. 

The  virtue  of  simplicity  is  a  holy  gift  of  Divine 
Omnipresence.  Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes,  whether 
within  or  without  ourselves,  we  see  the  effects  of  the 
creative  and  operative  might  of  God.  This  vision  is 
so  simple  and  so  effective  that  each  soul  is  impressed 
with  the  intimation  that  everything  in  existence  is  the 
work  of  God;  not  a  work  in  time  or  space  or  within 
a  beginning  and  an  end,  but  an  absolutely  unlimited, 
unceasing  and  everlasting  work,  which  sustains  our 
being  in  all  spiritual  and  natural  conditions  of  life. 
This  divine  work  is  the  most  obvious  gift  and  the  living 
Providence  of  God. 

Nothing  is  simpler  than  the  fact  that  our  free  will 
is  for  worthiness,  that  our  intellect  is  for  truth  and 
that  our  heart  is  for  love.  The  whole  external  world 
expresses  the  simplicity  of  service.  Suns,  planets  and 
our  own  earth,  with  its  light,  atmosphere,  vegetation 
and  countless  materials  of  utility ;  all  these  are  there  to 
be  taken  as  if  from  God’s  hand.  Even  souls  are  there 
to  be  taken  into  the  loving  heart,  and,  above  all,  is 


62 _ VIRTUES _ 

the  holiest  gift  of  conscience  through  which  virtues  flow 
mto  the  worthy  heart  from  the  love  of  God.  Are  these 
not  gifts?  Have  we  made  all  this?  How  utterly 
senseless  must  be  the  soul  that  does  not  see  these  plain 
facts ! 

As  regards  virtuous  practice,  simplicity  is  the  most 
evident  mode  of  giving;  it  gives  sincerely,  truthfully  and 
modestly,  as  it  behooves  that  it  should  give  in  the  holy 
presence  of  God,  because  this  is  the  heavenly  manner 
of  giving. 

Sacrifice  is  the  essence  of  giving,  and  the  very  sense 
and  consequence  of  virtuous  life.  It  is  the  transcendent 
aim  of  Divine  life  and  the  holy  source  of  great  motives 
and  sentiments.  Nothing  glorifies  but  sacrifice  and, 
consequently,  nothing  causes  such  admiration  and  uplift 
and  moves  the  heart  so  deeply  as  sacrifice. 

Sacrifice  is  the  effecting  form  of  holiness  and  truth. 
It  always  gives  the  highest  and  the  best  and  never 
decreases  but  always  increases  its  might  by  giving.  Its 
gifts  have  eternal  worth,  and  it  is  this  eternal  worth 
of  sacrifice  which  forms  and  constitutes  the  noblest 
character. 

Sacrifice  is  free  giving,  which  knows  no  compulsion. 
Superessentially,  it  issues  from  the  intimity  of  Divine 
Love,  and  essentially  it  issues  from  the  soul’s  heart,  the 
immortal  vessel  of  most  glorious  sentiments.  If  anyone 
wants  a  tangible  proof  of  immortality,  let  him  accom¬ 
plish  a  distinguished  sacrifice,  and  he  will  ask  for  no 


GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE 


63 


further  proof.  All  gifts  emanate  from  this  virtue,  and 
were  it  possible  to  eliminate  the  greater  and  lesser  sacri¬ 
fices  from  our  little  life,  this  earth  would  become  miser¬ 
able,  hopeless  and  unendurable. 

Righteousness  is  the  holder  and  defender  of  every¬ 
thing  that  pertains  to  sacrificial  gifts.  From  the  highest 
sacrificial  attainment  to  the  least  significant  gift,  right¬ 
eousness  guards  the  rightfulness  of  possession,  and  be 
it  to  a  great  spirit  or  the  poorest  sinner,  righteousness  is 
equally  faithful.  Nothing  that  rightfully  belongs  to 
the  soul  can  be  taken  away  without  the  insisting 
reproach  of  injustice  and  the  absolute  demand  for 
reparation. 

But  why  is  righteousness  so  insisting  in  its  reproach 
and  demand?  Is  it  merely  on  account  of  the  title  of 
legal  possession,  which  often  cannot  be  proved?  Flas 
legal  possession  no  ground  in  conscience?  Righteous¬ 
ness  is  so  solicitous  about  all  possessions  of  the  soul, 
because  they  are  real  gifts  of  God,  and  real  gifts  of 
God  must  be  righteously  acquired.  Consequently,  no 
possession  is  a  righteous  possession  unless  it  is  right¬ 
eously  acquired.  This  fact  of  conscience  evokes  the 
denunciation  of  all  assumed  honor  and  of  all  social 
impositions. 

If  we  desire  to  know  the  might  of  righteousness,  let 
us  find  and  look  at  the  possessors  of  great  virtues. 
Everything  they  have  is  righteously  obtained.  And  it 
is  this  profound  righteousness  which  makes  them  so 


64 


VIRTUES 


virtuous  that  no  wickedness  can  rob  them  of  their  highly 
deserved  honor  and  of  the  inward  joy  of  their  invinci¬ 
bility. 

In  the  light  of  divine  gifts,  the  final  expression  of 
all  the  gifts  of  God  is  goodness,  the  heavenly  manner 
in  which  all  gifts  are  manifested.  No  one  gives  out 
of  sheer  wilfulness,  thoughtlessness  or  hardness  of  heart. 
The  imparting  of  gifts  is  elicited  from  calm  decisions, 
benevolent  thoughtfulness  and  inward  tenderness  and 
compassion,  which  constitute  the  spiritual  beauty  and 
the  heavenly  adornment  of  the  heart.  How  much 
better  in  the  sight  of  God  is  the  poor  sister  of  mercy 
who  devotes  her  life  to  this  beautiful  virtue  and  how 
superior  is  the  calm  and  unpretentious  spiritual  teacher 
to  so  many  worldly  leaders  with  all  their  pride  and 
ostentation ! 

Goodness  is  the  most  attractive  invitation  and  the 
most  obvious  revelation  of  the  giving  spirit  of  virtues. 
It  precedes  every  good  motive,  thought  and  sentiment 
and  follows  each  good  deed  that  again  it  may  lead 
the  sentiments  of  others.  And  thus  it  works  incessantly 
as  the  divine  solicitor  to  a  worthy  life.  In  itself  it  is 
the  easiest  virtue  to  attain,  and  everybody  can  have 
more  goodness  in  his  heart  if  he  only  wants  it. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  life  of  the  soul  consists  of  the 
gifts  of  God,  the  highest  of  which  are  virtues.  These 
gifts  are  the  God-given  ground  and  aim  of  our  life, 
for  there  is  no  other  destiny  than  the  participation  in, 


•  GIFT  AND  REASON  OF  LIFE 


65 


cooperation  with  and  affirmation  of  the  Divine  life  and, 
consequently,  no  other  worthy  reason  for  our  being. 

Christian  theologians  employ,  instead  of  the  term 
“Divine  gift,”  the  far  less  concrete  term  “divine  grace” ; 
hence  the  manifest  insufficiency  and  indistinctness  of 
their  doctrine.  Moreover,  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
grace  is  not  grounded  on  Divine  Attributes  as  the  sole 
source  of  “supernatural  graces,”  but  is  attenuated  to 
their  historical  tenets.  Hence,  regardless  of  good  inten¬ 
tions,  this  doctrine  induces  human  arbitrariness  into 
Divine  operation  and  proves  most  cogently  the  disas¬ 
trous  spirit  of  anthropomorphic  dogmas. 


VIRTUES,  THE  ESSENTIAL  CULT  OF 
DIVINITY  AND  SUPREME 
OBJECT  OF  PRAYER 

What  is  the  intrinsic  meaning  of  the  worship  of 
God?  Is  it  only  an  outer  manifestation  of  religious 
rites  or  a  recitation  of  public  prayers,  as  most  men 
seem  to  understand?  Is  it  possible  that  the  cult  of 
God  has  no  eternal  source  or  plan?  Reviewing  the 
divergent  religious  dogmas,  one  fails  to  see  an  eternal 
source  and  order  of  worship.  And  yet  it  is  obvious 
that  in  the  oneness  of  God  there  is  oneness  of  will  and 
that  the  oneness  of  Divine  Will  demands  consistency 
and  clearness  of  worship.  Each  form  of  worship  must 
issue  from  its  eternal  source,  the  Attributes  of  God,  in 
order  to  possess  Divine  sanction  and  the  power  of  vir¬ 
tuous  elevation  and  affirmation. 

Divine  worship  is  the  transcendent  form  of  our  life, 
the  form  of  the  whole-souled  expression  of  our  alle¬ 
giance  to,  adoration  of  and  most  inward  need  of  God. 
It  is  the  form  of  the  origin  of  all  our  spiritual  forces 
and  of  our  highest  aim,  the  participation  in,  cooperation 
with  and  affirmation  of  Divine  life.  We  live  for  the 

66 


THE  CULT  AND  PRAYER 


67 


sake  of  the  most  worshipful,  and,  consequently,  all  our 
forces  are  concentrated  mainly  on  what  we  worship. 

Worship  is  not  only  an  expression  of  sentiment,  but 
a  necessity  for  the  will  and  intellect  as  well.  Why  are 
we  so  profoundly  impressed  by  the  great  will  that  rises 
above  common  acts  when  fulfilling  a  great  sacrifice? 
Because  the  purpose  of  the  will  is  to  worship  holiness. 
Why  do  we  admire  those  high  intellects  which  soar 
above  common  thoughts  and  present  a  sublimer  life 
than  ours?  Because  the  purpose  of  the  intellect  is  to 
worship  truth.  And  why  do  we  rejoice  in  deeds  of 
pure  love,  if  not  because  they  express  the  worship  of 
love  divine? 

Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  are  the  supreme  forms  of 
worship.  They  are  not  mere  idealities,  as  is  imagined 
by  anthropomorphic  subjectivism,  but  superessential 
realities,  the  formal  life  of  God,  and  therefore,  the  life- 
giving,  the  life-leading  and  the  life-sanctifying  forms 
of  worship.  Consequently,  the  more  profoundly  the 
virtues  are  mrooted  in  the  soul,  the  purer  and  sublimer 
is  its  worship. 

In  Holiness  we  worship  the  transcendent  Majesty 
of  God,  His  omnipotent  Perfection  and  His  super¬ 
spiritual  Eternity.  In  Truth  we  worship  His  Divine 
Contemplation  and  His  creative  Mights,  His  omniscient 
Predestination  and  His  omnipresent  Providence.  In 
Love  we  worship  God’s  superessential  sacrifice,  His 


VIRTUES 


68 

charitable  Judgment  and  His  saving  and  blessing 
Goodness. 

This  is  the  essence  of  religious  worship,  and  every¬ 
thing  that  is  derived  therefrom  is  worshipful.  There¬ 
fore,  virtues  being  the  emanation  of  the  holy  attributes 
of  God,  are  in  themselves  worshipful.  They  issue,  live 
and  rise  through  worship  mainly.  A  soul  without 
virtue  can  perform  no  worthy  worship,  consequently,  it 
will  worship  its  own  ego  or  any  subordinated  and  often 
unworthy  object;  its  worship  is  egotistic  and  not  rarely 
brutal.  At  best,  it  only  worships  incoherent  symbols 
of  crude  religious  traditions,  all  of  which  are  more  or 
less  anthropomorphic  and  frequently  undivine. 

Where  are  the  temples  reverberating  with  the  Voice 
of  Holiness?  Who  are  the  messengers  of  God  whose 
every  word  is  true?  Where  are  the  caretakers  of  souls, 
whose  main  strength  is  love  for  fallen  mankind? 
Where  there  is  no  true  and  sublime  worship,  religion 
must  remain  ineffectual.  And  how  is  true  worship  pos¬ 
sible  if  men  do  not  know  the  intrinsic  worthiness  of 
the  soul  and  the  sanctity  of  conscience,  the  inward  God- 
given  form  of  worship? 

The  prevailing  religious  teaching  treats  the  attributes 

« 

of  God  as  an  accessory  and  not  as  the  most  vital  relig¬ 
ious  knowledge.  And  yet  there  is  no  other  means  of 
knowing  God  except  through  His  holiest  attributes. 
Divine  attributes  are  the  real  revelation  of  the  Holiness, 


THE  CULT  AND  PRAYER 


69 


Truth  and  Love  of  God  and,  consequently,  the  sole 
basis  of  all  religious  concepts  and  practice. 

Being  supremely  worshipful  in  themselves,  the  mights 
of  God  are  the  supreme  forms  of  worship.  Conse¬ 
quently,  we  must  know  each  might  of  God  distinctly 
and  completely  before  we  are  able  to  trust  in  God. 
Otherwise,  we  shall  never  trust  in  God,  but  we  shall 
fear  Him  and  hide  ourselves  before  His  holy  face, 
as  the  great  mass  of  humanity  is  doing.  Everybody 
knows  that  religion  and  even  life  itself  depend  on  the 
highest  idea  and  love  of  God;  and  everybody  is  con¬ 
scious  that  he  cannot  worship  truly  unless  he  has  both 
the  true  idea  and  profound  love  of  God. 

Divine  attributes  are  the  most  distinct  revelation  of 
God  and,  consequently,  the  most  distinct  forms  of 
worship.  Being  eternal  in  itself,  Divine  revelation  is 
not  a  question  of  time  and  space,  but  of  the  transcend¬ 
ent  might  which  causes  the  most  immortal  form  of 
conscience,  on  which  and  through  which  the  soul  lives 
immortally.'  Not  in  the  will,  nor  in  the  intellect  or 
sentiment,  separately  or  collectively,  do  we  find  the 
revelation  of  the  attributes  of  God,  but  in  conscience, 
the  divine  form  of  revelation,  and  the  sole  subsistence 
of  the  soul’s  worthiness  and  life. 

Any  form  of  worship  which  does  not  follow  this 
Divine  order  of  revelation  is  either  deficient  or  incon¬ 
sistent  with  its  holy  purpose.  Consequently,  what 
should  be  the  fiery  focus  of  virtuous  animation,  the 


70 


VIRTUES 


flaming  light  of  our  thoughts,  and  the  most  forceful 
means  of  our  rise,  is,  in  our  present  religious  education, 
so  inanimate,  unenlightening  and  unelevating  that  we 
cannot  wonder  at  the  general  religious  indifference  and 
impotence.  Where  the  grandeurs  of  God  are  not  held 
before  our  faces,  and  only  occasional  allusions  made  to 
them,  the  soul  must  remain  worldly  and  empty  of  sub- 
limer  sensibilities. 

Virtues  are  the  religious  spirit,  the  light  and  the  ever¬ 
lasting  fruition  of  Divine  attributes  and  the  intrinsic 
potency  of  worship.  Thus  the  higher  the  ascent  in 
virtue,  the  sublimer  is  the  worship  of  God.  All  efforts 
and  means  should  be  employed  to  promote  this  state, 
for  the  realization  of  higher  worship  of  God  is  not  only 
the  sole  assurance  of  spiritual  progress,  but  also  the 
sole  safety  from  disaster. 

The  worship  of  God  is  a  living  prayer.  The  heart, 
which  is  made  mainly  for  prayer,  longs  to  attain  and 
offer  its  most  precious  content,  its  virtues.  Thus  the 
soul  offers  praise  to  God,  because  He  is  the  holiest 
object  of  highest  praise.  It  protests  its  faith  in  God, 
for  God  is  the  absolute  ground  of  infallible  faith.  It 
cleaves  with  constant  devotion  to  God,  for  God  is 
our  heavenly  Father,  and  in  final  joy  it  offers  unceasing 
thanks  for  being  His  child  and  a  participator  in  Divine 
life.  This  is  the  heart’s  answer  to  the  supreme  gift 
of  God,  its  most  intimate  and  most  prayerful  reciprocity, 
the  might  of  which  is  so  unconditional  that  it  permeates 


THE  CULT  AND  PRAYER 


71 


all  actions,  thoughts  and  sentiments  in  all  our  mutual 
relations.  Our  best  life  lives  on  due  praise,  on  due 
faith,  on  due  devotion  and  on  due  gratitude  to  God 
and  man.  We  all  long  for  it  and  want  it  in  order  to 
live  a  worthy  life  and  to  prove  our  worthiness. 

Having  obtained  an  insight  into  the  giving  prayer, 
let  us  now  consider  the  essence  of  the  petitionary 
prayer.  What  is  the  object  of  our  most  inward  solici¬ 
tude,  supplication  and  entreaty?  This  object  is  the 
riches  of  heaven,  the  power  of  great  spirits,  the  virtues 
which  are  the  reflected  grandeurs  of  Divinity  in  great 
souls. 

Virtues  are  not  hidden,  exclusive  or  arbitrary.  They 
are  open  to  every  man  with  no  regard  to  station.  They 
are  absolutely  true,  righteous  and  beneficent  in  their 
profoundness,  in  their  ennobling  power  and  in  their 
practical  effectiveness.  Each  virtue  shines  with  benevo¬ 
lence,  for  its  power  is  the  very  beneficence  of  God. 
And  it  is  this  Divine  beneficence  which  is  the  supreme 
object  of  our  earnest  solicitude,  of  our  sincere  supplica¬ 
tion,  and  our  most  ardent  entreaty.  It  provides  the 
longing  soul  with  the  sublimest  means  for  the  worship 
of  God.  No  possession  satisfies  except  this  heavenly 
means. 

Virtues  are  the  supreme  object  of  our  petitionary 
prayer,  for  without  virtues  we  are  impotent  for  a 
glorious  life.  Every  sin  and  error  we  commit  is  the 
consequence  of  the  lack  of  virtue  in  our  hearts.  Thus 


72 


VIRTUES 


we  must  pray  for  this  divine  gift  continually,  that  it  be 
our  sustenance  and  power.  For  if  we  do  not  inwardly 
long  and  pray  for  virtues,  our  hearts  will  not  be  ready 
to  receive  and  hold  them  as  their  greatest  treasure. 

Virtues  are  heavenly  powers  and  treasures,  and  can¬ 
not  enter  a  heart  that  has  not  prepared  itself  for  them 
through  purification  and  enlightenment.  There  must 
be  inward  worship  in  the  heart,  that  virtue  may  dwell 
therein.  As  men  clean  their  bodies  and  garments  to 
enter  into  temples,  thus  our  hearts  must  be  pure  for 
the  visitation  of  heavenly  guests.  And  the  more  serious 
the  solicitude,  the  sincerer  the  supplication  and  the 
intenser  the  entreaty,  the  more  permanent  becomes  the 
entry  of  virtues,  and  the  greater  is  the  soul’s  power 
and  beatitude. 

The  petitionary  prayer  is  so  conspicuous  in  our  life 
that  we  cannot  move  any  distance  without  its  insistence. 
From  our  earthly  birth  to  our  earthly  death  this  prayer 
is  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  of  our  life.  We  pray 
for  everything  we  desire  to  attain;  we  ask  friends  and 
even  strangers  for  help  and  we  feel  grateful  commen- 
surately  with  their  assistance.  The  soul  never  forgets 
the  need  of  petition  and  enjoys  the  assistance  received. 
Nor  does  the  one  who  receives  thanks  forget  even  the 
manner  of  gratitude,  which  so  stirs  the  heart  for  the 
accomplished  good.  These  lesser  expressions  of  life 
manifest  the  necessity  of  petitionary  prayer. 

Concerning  the  highest  expressions  of  life  we  may  . 


THE  CULT  AND  PRAYER 


73 

ask  the  following  questions:  Are  we  so  perfect  that 
we  do  not  need  any  spiritual  assistance?  Are  we  so 
worthy,  so  wise  and  lovable  that  nothing  can  be  added 
to  our  honor,  intellect  and  sentiment?  Or  are  honor, 
enlightenment  and  love  non-existent?  Practically 
speaking,  all  the  chief  issues  of  life  consist  in  the 
demand  for  honor,  enlightenment  and  love.  Therefore, 
if  we  pray  for  assistance  in  our  daily  affairs  and  duties, 
there  is  infinitely  more  reason  to  pray  for  assistance 
respecting  the  immortal  issue  of  our  whole  being. 

The  virtuous  soul  prays  for  virtues  exclusively.  He 
knows  no  other  prayer  to  God.  If  Divine  providence 
has  placed  him  in  trying  conditions,  he  uses  such  con¬ 
ditions  as  providential  means  for  more  rapid  progress 
in  virtues.  He  never  complains  that  God  has  deserted 
him.  On  the  contrary,  regardless  of  the  severity  of  the 
external  ordeal,  his  spirit  rises  higher  and  higher  in 
praise,  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  to  God,  with  ever 
increasing  prayer  for  still  greater  devotion  and  sacrifice 
to  the  Holiest  of  the  holiest.  This  is  his  true,  inward 
and  living  cult  and  prayer. 

Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  are  the  immutable  forms 
of  true  worship.  Divine  Holiness,  through  its  Perfec¬ 
tion  and  Eternity,  urges  and  evokes  in  the  soul  humility, 
fortitude  and  beatitude.  Divine  T  ruth,  through  its 
Omniscience  and  Omnipresence,  reveals  divine  light 
and  evokes  wisdom  and  simplicity.  And  Divine  Love, 
through  its  Charity  and  Goodness,  reveals  and  demands 


74 


VIRTUES 


sacrifice,  righteousness  and  benevolence.  This  is  the 
transcendent  prototype  of  our  life  and,  consequently, 
the  sublime  and  immutable  content  and  order  of  prayer. 
It  is  the  prayer  of  angels  and  it  should  be  the  prayer 
of  our  souls.  Unless  the  Face  of  God  shines  through 
the  forms  of  worship,  no  man  is  sufficiently  attracted 
to  religion  and  to  prayer. 


VIRTUES,  THE  SACRAMENTAL  CONTENT 

OF  CONSCIENCE 

Virtues,  as  the  eternal  spirit,  gift  and  cult  of  Divine 
attributes,  are  manifestly  the  sanctifying  forms  of  life 
and,  consequently,  the  sacramental  content  of  con¬ 
science.  They  impart  to  the  soul  the  spirit  and  power 
of  participating  in,  cooperating  with  and  affirming  the 
Divine  life.  These  sanctifying  forms  are  not  the  super¬ 
essential  prototype  of  God,  but  the  transcendent  mights 
of  God;  for  the  superessence  of  God  is  God  in  His 

i 

intimate  Self,  while  Divine  transcendence  is  only  His 
creative,  operative  and  sanctifying  might.  In  other 
words,  God  lives  within  His  holiest  superessence,  but 
reveals  Himself  and  operates  through  His  transcendent 
might.  A  complete  explanation  of  this  distinction 
between  the  Divine  Superessence  and  Transcendence 
will  be  given  in  a  future  work  on  “The  Face  of  God.” 
A  reference  to  this  distinction,  however,  is  here  neces¬ 
sary  in  order  to  serve  as  a  guard  and  a  warning  against 
pantheistic  confusion  on  this  subject. 

The  insistence  in  various  creeds  on  the  necessity  of 
partaking  the  sacraments  and  the  justified  assertion  that 
sacraments  produce  tangible  religious  effects,  make  it 

75 


76 _ VIRTUES _ _ 

evident  that  sacraments  are  not  mere  religious  signs  or 
means,  as  is  generally  asserted,  but  the  essential  content 
and  condition  of  religious  life.  As  in  so  many  impor¬ 
tant  definitions,  so  also  in  this  instance,  the  principle  is 
mistaken  for  the  effect. 

And  now  let  us  observe  the  disastrous  consequences 
of  this  confusion.  Because  each  creed  claims  the  exclu¬ 
sive  possession  of  sanctifying  means,  it  attenuates  its 
sacraments  by  adapting  them  to  tenets  based  on  exclu¬ 
sive  traditions  and  scriptures,  and  thus  causes  a  basis 
for  religious,  or,  more  correctly,  for  irreligious  conflicts. 
We  notice  that  among  orthodox  creeds,  where  sacra¬ 
ments  are  the  most  vital  part  of  religious  instruction, 
this  conflict  is  more  conspicuous  than  among  liberal 
confessions.  But  we  also  notice  that  where  sacraments 
are  not  the  most  vital  part  of  a  religion,  as  in  the  case 
of  liberal  churches,  religion  ceases  to  be  the  chief  object 
of  the  heart,  and  there  follows  a  laxity  of  religious 
practice.  This  is  not  simplifying  religion ;  it  is  reducing 
it  to  an  ethical  law  without  the  living  object  of  this 
law. 

It  is  well  that  we  recognize  the  ethical  value  of 
religion,  and  many  follow  ethics  even  without  the  recog¬ 
nition  of  religion.  Ethics  pertain  mainly  to  our  spiritual 
sociability  and  manifest  our  religious  standard  and 
elevation,  but  they  are  the  effect,  not  the  principle  of 
religion.  In  other  words,  they  are  the  logical  sequence 
of  it.  No  moral  code  forces  a  soul  to  sacrifice,  but 


SACRAMENTAL  CONTENT 


77 


sacrifice  is  a  sublime  example  for  sublimer  ethics.  What 
humanity  mainly  needs  is  sublimer  ethics  and  these 
cannot  be  attained  without  profounder  religious  con¬ 
viction  and  the  recognition  that  religion  consists  of  the 
sacramental  content  of  conscience,  the  eternal  spirit  of 
Divine  attributes. 

Philosophical  demonstrations  concerning  God,  the 
universe  and  the  soul  are  .necessary  and,  if  well  per¬ 
formed,  convincing  and  admirable,  but,  having  only 
an  enlightening  power,  they  do  not  warm  and  bind  the 
heart.  We  see  many  intelligent,  ethical  and  correctly 
acting  men,  but  we  rarely  see  the  loving  heart,  the  real 
bond  between  God  and  man.  The  spirit  of  friendship 
that  binds  the  soul  to  holy  mutuality  and  proves  that 
we  are  the  true  children  of  God,  is  seldom  there. 

If  it  should  be  asked  which  comes  first  in  the  logical 
order,  sacraments  or  religion,  we  must  admit  that  in 
order  to  accept  religion  we  must  first  know  its  sacra¬ 
mental  features  and  content,  for  it  is  this  fact  which 
matters  in  religion  mainly.  And  what  is  this  sacra¬ 
mental  content?  It  is  the  Superspirit  of  God  formally 
revealed  in  and  operating  through  conscience  on  our 
will,  intellect  and  sentiment,  in  order  to  embrace  and 
fill  them  with  virtues,  the  heavenly  spirit  of  Divine 
attributes.  Hence  it  is  not  religion  in  its  traditional 
sense  that  causes,  holds  and  possesses  sacraments,  but 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  this  sacramental  spirit  of  God 


78 


VIRTUES 


which  constitutes  and  effects  the  very  bond  of  religion, 
and  thus  makes  it  sacramental  and  sanctifying. 

Notwithstanding  the  erroneous  definitions  of  sacra¬ 
ments,  there  is  an  inward  compulsion  in  the  soul  for 
something  holy;  for  sacramental  animation.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise.  The  soul,  being  the  transcendent  throb 
of  divine  determination,  endowed  with  the  flame  of 
divine  truth  and  the  vessel,  of  divine  love,  intimately 
inclines  and  cleaves  to  holiness  and  to  the  sacramental 
manifestations  of  holiness.  No  one  who  hears  the 
name  of  God  can  free  himself  from  this  holy  impression. 

When  sounding  our  soul  in  its  deepest  recesses  we 
find  a  disquieting  undercurrent  of  longing.  We  strive 
to  calm  this  longing  by  means  of  conscientious  fulfill¬ 
ment  of  our  common  duties  and  we  derive  much  inward 
contentment  therefrom.  Nevertheless,  we  always  feel 
the  need  for  higher  aspiration  and  the  feeling  of  this 
need  makes  us  spiritually  anxious.  What  is  this  dis¬ 
quieting  undercurrent  in  the  depth  of  our  soul  which 
every  serious  man  experiences?  It  is  the  sanctifying 
operation  of  the  Divine  attributes,  which  claim  the 
ownership  of  the  heart  and  insist  on  their  entrance  into 
the  soul’s  vessel.  There  is  no  abatement  in  this  sanc¬ 
tifying  operation  and,  consequently,  there  is  no  relaxa¬ 
tion  in  the  heart  until  it  is  filled  with  the  sacramental 
riches  of  heaven. 

Now  let  us  consider  this  sanctifying  operation  more 
formally,  that  we  see  how  each  force  and  form  of  the 


_ SACRAMENTAL  CONTENT  79 

soul  is  involved  in  this  sacramental  content.  I  he 
essential  form  of  the  soul  consists  of  will,  intellect  and 
sentiment.  But  this  is  not  its  supreme  form,  because 
will,  intellect  and  sentiment  are  essentially  relative. 
1  he  will  relates  to  the  supreme  object  of  affirmation, 
which  is  holiness,  the  intellect  to  the  supreme  object  of 
truth,  and  sentiment  to  the  supreme  object  of  love. 
Therefore,  we  must  understand  formally  this  supreme 
object  before  we  can  understand  the  formal  purport  and 
importance  of  our  own  self-conscious  and  self-sentient 
volitional  soul. 

The  formal  object  of  the  self-conscious  and  self- 
sentient  will  is  glory,  power  and  beatitude.  The  will 
cannot  want  anything  more  and  cannot  be  satisfied  with 
anything  less.  Self-consciousness  must  have  absolute 
light,  wisdom  and  simplicity,  as  the  fundamental  req¬ 
uisite  of  its  intellect,  in  order  to  have  an  infallible  under¬ 
standing  of  its  own  capacity.  And  self-sentiency  can¬ 
not  feel  itself  great,  powerful,  happy  and  true  except 
in  pure  love,  righteousness  and  goodness.  Without 
these  virtues  the  whole  soul  feels  itself  cursed  and 
doomed. 

These  are  the  superspiritual  forms  of  the  soul,  its 
sanctifying  ground  and  principle  and  the  proof  of  the 
sacredness  of  conscience.  They  are  the  subsisting  and 
sanctifying  Superspirit  of  Divine  attributes,  dwelling 
under  the  soul  in  each  of  its  forces  and  forms. 
Emanating  from  the  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  of 


80 


VIRTUES 


God,  each  Divine  attribute  absolutely  demands  and 
insists,  through  conscience,  on  the  performance  of  all 
deeds,  on  the  employment  of  all  thoughts,  and  on  the 
gathering  of  all  sentiments  sacredly,  that  the  soul’s 
movement  and  motive  may  possess  sacramental  value. 

Sacrament,  in  its  original  meaning,  is  an  oath  or  a 
vow.  It  is  a  fair  question  to  ask  what  is  the  highest 
and  sublimest  vow  of  which  the  soul  is  capable,  if  not 
the  vow  to  lead  a  virtuous  life?  All  great  souls  have 
vowed  their  lives  to  God,  and  God  has  blessed  them 
with  immortal  glory. 

A  vow  is  a  free,  intense  determination  and  promise, 
formally  and  solemnly  expressed  before  God,  with 
pleadings  for  His  blessing.  A  vow  can  be  made  pub¬ 
licly  or  privately,  and  in  either  case  it  binds  with  equal 
force.  The  necessity  of  vows  is  manifested  in  all  our 
important  relations.  The  entrance  upon  great  respon¬ 
sibilities,  the  induction  into  high  office,  the  obligations 
of  matrimony,  and  all  important  resolutions  and  testi¬ 
mony  are  sealed  with  an  oath.  Thus,  for  the  sake  of 
the  security  of  our  social  stability,  we  are  bound  to 
avail  ourselves  of  sacramental  forms.  Intrinsically, 
each  covenant  and  serious  promise  is  an  informal  vow. 

Why  is  it  that  we  so  rarely  apply  vows  in  our  relig¬ 
ious  duties?  Why  do  we  not  vow  benevolence  for  the 
sake  of  those  who  are  in  great  spiritual  and  physical 
need?  Why  do  we  not  vow  righteousness,  so  abso¬ 
lutely  necessary  to  keep  our  consciences  clean  from 


_ SACRAMENTAL  CONTENT  81 

injustice,  and  to  sustain  and  nourish  our  inward  sense 
of  honor?  Why  do  we  not  vow  to  perform  a  little 
sacrifice  once  a  week  or  even  once  a  month,  that  we 
may  gather  the  power  of  sacrificial  motives?  Why  do 
we  not  vow  to  be  sincere  and  truthful  in  all  our  expres¬ 
sions,  in  order  to  protect  ourselves  and  others  against 
the  curse  of  falsehood?  Why  do  we  not  vow  our 
minds  to  wisdom  and  Divine  light,  that  we  be  freed 
from  the  oppressing  ignorance  of  the  sublime  might  of 
religion?  Why  do  we  not  vow  our  faith,  devotion 
and  gratitude  to  God,  as  we  should,  at  every  moment 
we  think  of  bdis  holy  name?  And  why  do  we  not 
vow  all  our  energies  to  sanctification,  that  we  be  eter¬ 
nally  crowned  with  the  beatitude  of  heavenly  associa¬ 
tion?  Because  we  have  not  as  yet  realized  the  full 
significance  of  virtues  as  the  intrinsic  sacramental  con¬ 
tent  of  conscience  and  religion. 

What  causes  virtues  to  be  so  intrinsically  sacra¬ 
mental?  Because  they  are  the  living  imitation  of  the 
holiest  attributes  of  God.  In  God  the  might  of  each 
attribute  is  so  absolutely,  formally  and  intensely  holy 
that  the  corresponding  answer  from  the  soul  cannot 
adequately  express  itself  except  through  the  most  solemn 
sacramental  vow,  to  imitate  and  follow  the  mights  of 
God.  This  is  the  religious  idea  of  the  sacramental 
principle,  which  at  all  times  and  under  all  circum¬ 
stances  should  be  the  guiding  light  in  our  worship  and 
in  all  our  religious  performances. 


82  _  VIRTUES  _ _ 

Until  religious  leaders  understand  this  religious  factor 
clearly  and  accept  it  in  practice,  humanity  will  not 
realize  the  necessity  for  inward  discipline  and,  conse¬ 
quently,  will  never  be  able  to  emerge  from  the  pre¬ 
vailing  spirit  of  heathenism. 

The  esthetical  part  .of  sacramental  performance  in 
public  worship  is  of  secondary  significance,  but  there 
is  all  reason  to  demand  that  in  solemnity  and  beauty 
it  shall  greatly  surpass  anything  that  has  so  far  been 
achieved  by  religious  art. 

Owing  to  its  predominantly  selfish  pursuits,  humanity 
has  but  very  little  sacramental  sense.  And  such  unen¬ 
lightened  sense  as  it  has,  leads  it  to  external  and  mys¬ 
terious  forms  in  order  at  least  partly  to  satisfy  its  long¬ 
ing  for  sacraments.  Even  many  of  those  who  profess 
not  to  believe  in  God,  or  who,  in  their  pantheistic  pro¬ 
clivities,  utterly  undivinize  or  humanize  Divinity,  never¬ 
theless  readily  accept  and  cling  to  external  rites  of 
official  sacramentalism. 

In  each  public  or  private  oath  or  solemn  covenant 
the  sacramental  importance  manifests  itself,  but  if  the 
soul  does  not  descend  into  the  profoundness  of  its  sac¬ 
ramental  conscience,  and  if  it  does  not  explore  its  holy 
ground,  power  and  elevation,  it  will  remain  blind  and 
insensitive  to  the  most  essential  importance  of  its  life. 
It  will  not  be  able  to  adore  the  most  adorable  or  respect 
the  most  worthy ;  it  will  not  be  able  to  attain  clear  and 
lofty  visions  and  fill  its  heart  with  power  and  delight 
everlasting. 


VIRTUES,  THE  ETERNAL  ESSENCE,  REV¬ 
ELATION  AND  BOND  OF  RELIGION 


I"  rom  the  beginning  of  religious  researches,  much  has 
been  written  on  the  subject  of  the  essence  of  religion, 
fn  these  works  we  observe  the  effort  to  bring  religion 
within  the  scope  of  our  theoretical  understanding,  in 
order  to  enhance  the  religious  cause  and  stimulate  our 
interest  in  this  supreme  science. 

Dogmatic  theologies  are  based  on  prophecies  and 
traditions,  formulated  into  corresponding  cults.  A  relig¬ 
ious  cult,  including  a  religious  form  of  discipline,  is 
based  on  this  religious  content,  irrespective  of  how  out¬ 
wardly  or  indistinctly  the  forms  of  this  religious  content 
are  expressed,  and  with  little  regard  for  the  rational 
consistency  of  religious  knowledge  with  the  general 
complex  of  life.  To  remedy  the  lack  of  rational  clear¬ 
ness  in  religious  principles  and  to  effect  a  more  rational 
religious  practice  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  religious  phil¬ 
osophy. 

Established  theologies  and  religious  philosophy  are 
working  essentially  for  the  same  end.  In  both  it  mat¬ 
ters  about  the  faith  in  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  the  future  rewards  and  punishments.  Established 

83 


84 


VIRTUES 


theologies  are  called  “positive  religion’’  for  the  sole 
reason  that  they  contain  a  religious  cult  and  discipline. 
Not  having  any  established  cult,  religious  philosophy  is 
called  “speculative.”  But  we  must  bear  in  mind  that 
all  established  dogmas  passed  through  centuries  of 
“speculation”  before  they  attained  their  present  form. 
Indeed,  we  plainly  see  in  the  voluminous  histories  of 
dogmas  that  dogmas  are  never  at  a  standstill. 

Prophets  have  never  given  us  the  complete  religious 
science  or  revelation.  They  have  given  us  only  simple, 
however  important,  fragments  of  religion.  If  we  com¬ 
pare  their  statements  with  the  writings  of  mystics  like 
Hugo  and  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  Eckhart  or  Ruys- 
broek,  we  shall  find  that  the  latter  surpassed  all  the 
prophets  in  elevation  and  volume  of  religious  ideas  and 
sentiments.  And  yet  those  great  mystics  were  addicted 
to  religious  speculation.  Speculation  has  been  the  work¬ 
ing  power  of  their  spiritual  elevation  and  greatness. 
It  is  far  easier  to  rest  on  the  pillars  of  historical  dogmas 
and  to  repeat  what  others  have  said  with  respect  to 
God,  the  soul  and  our  future  life,  than  to  awaken  the 
soul  to  its  inwardness  through  the  progressive  and  pro¬ 
founder  religious  experience  and  higher  thoughtfulness 
of  the  spiritual  teacher. 

All  dogmas  are  reducible  to  one  simple  statement, 
God,  the  soul  and  the  soul’s  relation  to  God.  Beyond 
this,  there  is  nothing  really  dogmatic.  All  other  teach¬ 
ings  are  circumstantial  theological  opinions  with  endless 


ESSENCE  AND  BOND  OF  RELIGION  85 


and  contradictory  interpretations.  Historical  events,  no 
matter  how  true,  are  neither  the  ground  nor  even  a 
proof  of  religion,  but  a  mere  illustration  of  religious 
aspirations  and  mental  and  sentimental  habits. 

The  teachers  of  orthodoxy  will  give  us  a  better 
proof  of  religious  zeal  and  wisdom,  if,  instead  of 
denouncing,  they  will  encourage  the  search  for  the 
essence  of  religion  and  not  dwell  on  the  mere  surface 
of  it.  Then  they  will  become  more  consistent  in  their 
occasional  allusions  to  the  inwardness  of  the  divine  in 
our  souls.  The  doctrine  of  revelation  which  holds  that 
God  has  revealed  Himself  only  once  in  many  cen¬ 
turies,  in  a  single  place  and  to  a  few  men,  and,  inferen- 
tially,  that  He  does  not  reveal  Himself  continually,  in 
His  own  creative  achievement  and  sacrifice,  which  is 
the  soul,  is,  to  say  the  least,  superficial  and  childish. 
In  consequence  of  such  teaching,  humanity  must  suffer 
from  the  want  of  religion,  and  historical  dogmas  must 
become  less  and  less  interesting  to  good,  serious  and 
thoughtful  men. 

The  essence  of  religion  is  the  most  essential  factor 
of  our  life.  It  is  God’s  holy  Will  in  the  soul,  a  Will 
which  constitutes  the  dominion  of  the  soul’s  honor,  truth 
and  beatitude,  and  which  causes  the  sole,  incontestable 
revelation  of  God  in  us.  Whichever  view  we  follow, 
whether  the  mystical  “intuition,”  the  philosophical 
“idea”  or  “causality,”  the  religious  “feeling  of  depend¬ 
ency,”  the  ethical  compulsion,  or  traditional  teachings, 


86 


VIRTUES 


they  all  pertain  to  the  essence  of  religion,  the  revelation 
of  God. 

What  is  the  reason  for  such  divergence  of  views 
relative  to  the  essence  of  religion?  Why  does  the 
mystic  depend  on  intuition,  a  sort  of  mind-sentiment? 
For  what  reason  do  philosophers  employ  predominantly 
ideas  and  logic?  Why  do  so  many  theologians  rely 
on  the  feeling  of  dependence  and  duty?  And  why  do 
historical  creeds  cleave  so  tenaciously  to  prophetic  tra¬ 
dition?  I  here  is  only  one  answer  to  all  of  these  ques¬ 
tions,  namely,  that  all  these  views  are  due  to  the  lack 
of  understanding  of  the  soul.  The  soul,  being  the 
greatest  act  of  God’s  creation,  must,  for  this  very  rea¬ 
son,  be  the  most  important  form  of  Divine  revelation; 
or,  to  speak  with  Eckhart,  “the  one  who  understands 
the  essence  of  the  soul,  understands  God.’’ 

The  obvious  form  of  revelation  is  conscience.  All 
religious  views  recur  to  conscience  for  their  final 
approval.  One  can  with  no  more  justification  accept 
a  conviction  contradictory  to  conscience  than  commit 
a  deed  against  conscience.  Furthermore,  God  suffers 
nothing  to  precede  His  Will.  It  is  and  must  be  first; 
for  nothing  is  as  near  to  the  soul  as  God;  His  Will  is 
ever  present  in  conscience,  and  thus  is  His  Light  and 
His  Love.  No  matter  how  forgetful  and  ungrateful 
the  poor  soul  is  for  the  privilege  of  living  on  and 
delighting  in  the  effects  of  conscience,  God  never  wholly 
forsakes  His  creature  and  never  allows  its  total  aliena- 


ESSENCE  AND  BOND  OF  RELIGION  87 


tion  from  conscience.  No  matter  how  much  man  may 
strive  not  to  be  aware  of  conscience,  he  finally  must 
submit  to  it. 

Conscience,  in  its  fundamental  conception,  is  the 
formal  Will  of  God  and  the  eternal  subsistence  of  our 
psychic  forces  and  forms,  and,  consequently,  of  our 
worthiness  and  destiny.  The  formal  Will  of  God,  as 
explained  in  the  preceding  chapters,  flows  from  His 
Holiest  attributes  and  constitutes  the  essence,  revelation 
and  bond  of  religion.  Now  we  understand  the  efforts 
of  mystics,  prophets,  theologians,  philosophers  and 
moralists.  Each  of  them  has  worked  and  thought 
according  to  his  inward  experience,  real  and  ideal,  in 
order  to  find  and  explain  this  divine  revelation  and 
divine  bond.  Incomplete  and  insufficient  as  the  results 
of  their  efforts  have  been,  they  have  contributed  the 
most  essential  means  of  our  soul’s  education  and  prog¬ 
ress.  These  men  gave  the  best  they  had  attained,  and 
humanity  owes  them  more  gratitude  than  criticism. 

The  bond  of  the  soul  with  God  is  evident.  Con¬ 
science  formally  demands  worthiness,  fortitude  and 
beatitude.  The  soul  has  the  spiritual  equipment  of  will 
and  freedom  of  motive  for  this  holy  demand.  Further¬ 
more,  conscience  demands  the  following  of  the  divine 
light,  wisdom  and  simplicity,  for  the  soul  has  the  innate 
means  of  perception,  conception  and  the  complex  of 
ideas  of  truth  and  veracity.  Finally,  conscience 
demands  pure  love,  righteousness  and  goodness,  for  the 


VIRTUES 


88 

soul  has  the  ability  to  attain  and  keep  these  holy  expres¬ 
sions  of  life. 

The  intrinsic  demand  of  Divine  revelation  and  the 
bond  of  religion  is  virtue.  Where  there  is  no  virtue, 
there  is  neither  revelation  of  God  nor  a  real  bond  with 
God.  Our  human  order  and  all  our  good  relations 
are  based  on  virtue;  and  all  good  enactments  and  moral 
precepts  are  only  the  consequence  of  the  urgency  of 
virtues.  Virtues  are  what  we  essentially  live  on  and 
for.  Therefore,  even  effectually,  virtues  are  the  essence, 
revelation  and  bond  of  religion. 

Without  the  ground  of  virtues,  religion  has  no 
intrinsic  importance  and,  at  its  best,  is  only  an  expres¬ 
sion  of  religious  aspirations.  Where  the  knowledge 
of  the  supreme  purpose  of  divine  revelation  is  so  sin¬ 
fully  neglected,  the  impotence  of  religious  teachings 
and  the  frequent  undivine  admixture  in  such  teachings, 
is  unavoidable.  The  consequences  of  this  neglect  and 
ignorance  are  manifest  in  our  daily  life.  Churches  are 
not  the  mam  attraction  and  preachers  not  often  the  most 
esteemed  and  beloved  men. 

Where  the  revelation  of  God  is  not  ever-present  in 
the  soul,  the  bond  of  the  soul  with  God  is  very  loose 
and  distant.  All  the  soul  wants  to  know  of  religion  is 
this  inward  bond.  The  rest  follows  of  itself.  If  our 
religious  teachers  will  explain  this  religious  bond  to 
mankind,  the  most  important  part  of  their  mission  will 
be  fulfilled,  for  no  greater  service  can  be  rendered  to 


ESSENCE  AND  BOND  OF  RELIGION  89 


man  than  the  clear  explanation  of  conscience.  Without 
this  leading  explanation,  appeals,  encouragement  and 
exhortations  will  seldom  pierce  the  anthropomorphic 
wall  which  shuts  us  off  from  the  vision  of  God  and 
of  our  own  soul. 


VIRTUES,  THE  ABSOLUTE  COMMAND¬ 
MENTS  OF  GOD  AND  THE  SANCTIFY¬ 
ING  AND  BEATIFYING  LAWS 

OF  LIFE 

Were  it  not  for  Divine  Perfection,  as  the  command¬ 
ing  necessity,  the  soul  would  not  be  a  subject  but  an 
object  in  life,  in  which  case  the  ultimate  destruction 
of  our  life  would  follow;  for  what  is  not  perfect  cannot 
exist  by  its  own  force.  Divine  attributes  express  the 
Perfection  of  the  Holiness  of  God  and,  being  the 
expressions  of  Absolute  Life,  possess  in  themselves  the 
commanding  might  which  is  the  absolute  spirit  and 
essence  of  law. 

The  soul  essentially  relates  to  the  Divine  attributes, 
also  called  Divine  perfections,  mights  or  grandeurs, 
which,  being  absolute  in  themselves,  are  the  holiest 
commandments  and  laws  of  the  soul.  The  soul,  being 
intrinsically  a  relative  being,  wants,  searches  and  longs 
for  perfect  commandments  in  order  to  be  animated, 
supported  and  guided  by  them;  it  wants  absolute  law 
and  rule  for  its  determinations,  judgments  and  desires. 

The  chief  difficulty  and  uneasiness  that  man  experi¬ 
ences  in  his  daily  life  is  the  lack  of  knowledge  of 

90 


COMMANDMENTS  AND  LAWS  OF  LIFE  91 


Divine  commandments,  the  highest  and  safest  laws  of 
conduct.  Hence  his  many  arbitrary  desires,  inconsistent 
thoughts  and  disordered  sentiments.  “What  shall  I 
do?”  This  is  the  ever-recurring  question.  This  “shall” 
is  not  an  incidental  obligation,  but  the  pressure  of  an 
ever-commanding  law  which  is  the  mainstay  of  spiritual 
harmony,  of  our  best  endeavors,  and  of  all  good 
conduct. 

The  spirit  of  Divine  commandments  insists  on  making 
us  virtuous.  It  is  not  an  object  of  mere  religious  aspira¬ 
tion  and  ideals,  but  the  concrete  Divine  law  of  our 
duties.  Through  this  commanding  form,  the  essence, 
revelation  and  bond  of  religion  manifests  the  utmost 
reality,  concreteness  and  effectualness  of  holy  life. 

The  aim  of  religion  is  sanctification  and  beatification. 
Sanctification,  with  its  concomitant  beatification,  con¬ 
stitutes  the  highest  state  of  lawfulness.  This  lawfulness 
must  have  a  holy  and  formal  ground  in  order  to  sustain 
its  holy  might.  The  Divine  attributes  constitute  this 
formal  ground.  Sanctification  is  the  lawful  might  of 
each  attribute  on  the  part  of  God  and  the  lawful  course 
of  the  adhering  forces  on  the  part  of  the  soul.  The 
formal  effect  of  this  lawful  course  are  virtues,  the  imita¬ 
tion  of  Divine  attributes.  Consequently,  virtues  are 
not  only  the  ideally  corresponding  powers  of  the  soul, 
but  also  the  real  concomitant  powers  with  the  mights 
of  God. 

The  soul  must  follow  God  on  the  path  of  His  holiest 


92 


VIRTUES 


mights  in  order  to  attain  sanctification  and  beatifica¬ 
tion,  for  this  is  the  absolute  reason  of  our  existence. 
With  a  voice  absolutely  commanding,  each  Divine 
attribute  calls,  urges  and  reveals  this  necessity  in  con¬ 
science;  and  therefore,  each  Divine  attribute  is  a  par¬ 
ticular  commandment  of  virtue.  Essentially,  there  are 
no  negative  commandments,  for  commandments  and 
laws  are  absolutely  positive.  The  “Thou  shalt  not” 
does  not  sanctify  and  beatify,  but  only  endeavors  to 
prevent  sin. 

The  soul  wants  to  know  most  positively  what  it 
should  and  not  what  it  should  not  do.  Unfortunately, 
the  commandments  of  God  are  not  sufficiently  known 
and  recognized,  because  no  intense  effort  has  been  made 
to  understand  conscience,  the  sole  divine  form  through 
which  God  reveals  His  holy  Will. 

The  one  who  has  a  sublime  conscience  knows  the 
Will  of  God  positively;  and  knowing  His  Will,  he 
is  conscious  of  the  eternal  mights  of  Divine  Holiness, 
Truth  and  Love,  and  with  his  whole  soul  he  accepts 
them  and  submits  to  them  as  the  profoundest  ground 
and  law  of  his  life.  The  one  who  has  no  living  con¬ 
science,  cannot  positively  know  the  Will  of  God  and, 
therefore,  employs  conscience  for  his  more  or  less  selfish 
aims,  and  is  uncertain  as  to  his  future  life.  And  the 
one  who  disregards  conscience,  treads  on  the  brink  of 
criminality  into  which  he  so  often  falls. 

The  commandments  of  God  must  be  made  clear  to 


COMMANDMENTS  AND  LAWS  OF  LIFE  93 


humanity  and  must  embrace  the  total  complex  of  our 
spiritual  life.  Each  commandment  must  call  for  a  dis¬ 
tinct  virtue,  the  power  of  which  profoundly  affects 
every  soul’s  movement.  By  these  commandments  the 
will  should  be  urged,  the  intellect  enlightened  and  the 
heart  inflamed  and  warmed. 

Divine  commandments  are  the  sublime  objects  of 
worship,  prayer,  sermons  and  of  our  best  aspirations 
and  endeavors;  they  are  the  eternal  law  of  the  love  of 
God  and  man.  Their  absence  debases  our  life  and 
causes  unceasing  strife  and  misery. 

The  spirit  of  Divine  commandments  is  not  a  mere 
spirit  of  authority,  but  essentially  the  spirit  of  Holiness, 
of  Truth  and  of  Love,  and  it  is  this  absolutely  holy 
might  which  causes  them  to  be  absolutely  authoritative. 
The  slightest  disobedience  to  Divine  commandments 
manifests  pride  and  lack  of  virtue. 

A  synopsis  of  virtues  in  a  simple  form  of  command¬ 
ments  is  given  in  the  “Religious  Decalog’’  of  the  work, 
“The  Religion  of  the  Soul.” 


VIRTUES,  THE  SUPREME  HONOR,  POWER 
AND  DUTY  OF  MAN 


Honor,  power  and  duty  are  the  most  expressive  and 
important  factors  of  our  life.  Thereof  consists  the 
whole  value  of  the  character  of  man. 

Honor  is  the  power  which  matters  mainly  in  our 
life.  It  is  the  principal  object  of  our  endeavors,  of 
our  solicitude  and  of  our  sentiment.  We  feel  glad  and 
happy  in  performing  an  honorable  act  and  we  feel 
perturbed  and  wretched  in  performing  a  dishonorable 
act;  because  in  the  first  instance  we  have  the  full 
approval  of  conscience  and  in  the  other  instance  we 
feel  its  reproach  and  condemnation.  Man  will  endure 
all  sorts  of  reproaches  concerning  his  lack  of  ability, 
mental  deficiency,  negligence,  etc.,  but  he  will  not 
endure  a  reproach  to  his  honor  unless  the  facts  which 
cause  the  reproach  are  irrefutable.  Even  then  he  will 
usually  endeavor  to  mitigate  the  accusation  by  exten¬ 
uating  his  inward  guilt.  No  volition,  no  thought  and 
no  sense  is  as  keen  as  that  of  personal  honor,  and  in 
all  our  human  relations  no  subject  is  so  delicately 
approached  as  is  the  honor  of  man. 

Furthermore,  pursuing  the  factor  of  honor  in  its 

94 


HONOR,  POWER  AND  DUTY  OF  MAN  95 


effectiveness  and  influence,  we  do  not  find  that  it  relates 
to  any  one  particular  force  of  the  soul,  hut  that  it 
dominates  the  entire  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  will. 
All  faculties  of  the  soul  and,  consequently,  all  move¬ 
ments  of  its  forces  are  affected  by  honor.  Thus  honor 
is  not  an  outward  or  additional  factor,  but  the  most 
inward,  most  real  and  most  important  factor  of  our  life, 
ft  is  so  important  that  every  serious  man  holds  honor 
as  his  dearest  treasure  and  most  guarded  secret. 

We  converse  about  all  possible  things,  about  our 
purposes,  ideas  and  our  very  heart,  but  we  very  rarely, 
if  ever,  speak  of  the  inwardness  and  importance  of  our 
honor.  Shall  we  call  this  fact  a  deficiency  of  our  char¬ 
acter?  Perhaps  we  may.  But  there  is  another  aspect 
of  this  question.  There  is  something  more  important 
to  the  factor  of  honor  than  to  any  other  factor,  and 
our  deep-felt  deficiency  proves  this  importance,  ft  is 
the  sacredness  of  the  honor  of  divine  childship  which 
causes  it  to  be  the  soul’s  dearest  treasure  and  secret. 
A  man  who  has  no  clear  consciousness  of  this  fact, 
invariably  has  a  subconsciousness  of  honor,  and,  though 
he  may  try  his  utmost,  no  man  can  destroy  this  con¬ 
sciousness  or  subconsciousness.  One  may  impair  and 
debase  it,  but  one  cannot  eliminate  this  inward  sense. 

fn  this  fact  we  see  the  absolute  hold  of  conscience 
on  the  soul,  a  sacred  hold  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
inward  secret.  To  prove  the  sacredness  of  this  inward 
secret,  it  is  enough  to  observe  a  truly  honorable  man, 


96 


VIRTUES 


who  not  only  is  strictly  righteous  and  profoundly 
benevolent,  but  is  always  modest  and  unpretentious. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  observe  the  more  or  less 
visible  vanity  of  arrogated  honor,  the  lack  of  respect 
for  virtues  is  obvious. 

The  possessor  of  true  honor  never  places  his  dignity 
at  the  footlights  of  his  conduct;  he  carries  it  in  his 
heart.  On  the  other  hand,  the  one  who  has  but  little 
honor  in  his  inwardness,  but  is  subconscious  that  he 
should  have  more  of  it,  commits  the  dishonorable  act 
of  deceiving  himself  by  false  dignity  in  order  to  deceive 
others  by  fictitious  appearances  of  dignified  adornment. 

It  matters  little  to  the  virtuous  man  whether  his 
honor  is  recognized  by  man  or  not,  but  it  is  of  greatest 
concern  to  him  whether  he  has  due  honor  before  the 
Face  of  God,  whether  he  carries  the  sublime  honor  of 
his  divine  childship  with  due  inward  dignity. 

No  soul  can  give  dignity  to  itself,  but  it  can  work 
for  it.  This  work  is  the  most  important  work  of  our 
life,  for  its  conditions  are  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love, 
in  which  the  soul  must  participate  in  order  to  live  a 
worthy  life. 

Worthiness,  therefore,  is  not  an  ideal,  but  a  concrete 
reality  of  our  life,  the  very  focus  of  all  our  endeavors, 
thoughts  and  sentiments.  No  honorable  man  will  tol¬ 
erate  unworthy  acts  without  protest,  much  less  will  he 
tolerate  them  in  himself.  The  most  intense  combat  is 
the  combat  of  our  inward  sense  of  divine  childship  with 


HONOR,  POWER  AND  DUTY  OF  MAN  97 


the  aggressions  of  dishonorable  passions.  If  our  deter¬ 
mination  and  sense  of  honor  is  high  we  win  and  rise; 
if  not,  we  lose  and  retrograde. 

Because  it  is  the  formal  expression  of  humility  to 
the  holy  Will  of  God,  honor  has  a  strictly  religious 
meaning.  Eliminate  humility  and  there  remains  no 
substance  for  personal  honor.  Wanton  self-will  is  then 
the  only  alternative.  The  one  who  does  not  understand 
that  honor  is  the  first  law  of  God  and  the  actual  realiza¬ 
tion  of  humility,  will  never  understand  the  supreme 
dignity  and  might  of  religion.  The  striking  indifference 
to  religious  values,  as  well  as  the  lack  of  due  reverence 
for  religion  in  general,  is  attributable  to  the  deficiency 
of  religious  teaching  and  its  failure  to  impress  upon  us 
the  urgent  necessity  for  the  religious  honor  of  the  soul. 

Hindu  and  Christian  asketics  have  been  swayed  too 
much  by  pessimism.  Though  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
our  spiritual  position  is  wretched,  this  pessimism  must 
not  be  applied  to  the  essence  of  our  soul,  the  subhmest 
gift  of  God.  We  must  hate  each  evil  deed  we  commit, 
but  we  must  not  hate  our  soul  in  its  creational  sub¬ 
sistence  and  substance,  for  this  would  be  almost  the 
equivalent  of  blasphemy.  It  is  this  radical  pessimistic 
sentiment  which  accounts  for  theories  of  a  dual  factor 
in  the  soul,  the  good  and  the  evil,  and  of  dual  or  even 
threefold  hypostatic  divinities,  one  counteracting  or  else 
supplementing  the  other.  Where  the  commandment  of 
worthiness  is  not  clearly  understood,  the  soul,  in  its 


98  VIRTUES  

depression  and  darkness,  is  only  too  apt  to  cleave  to  its 
own  shadows. 

Humility  and  honor  are  the  highest  power  of  man’s 
character.  The  deeper  humility  and  honor  are  inrooted 
into  the  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  will,  the  more 
powerful  becomes  our  determination.  The  “will  to 
power”  finds  in  the  will  to  humility  and  honor  its  pro- 
foundest  basis  and  highest  efficacy. 

Everyone  must  bow  in  supreme  admiration  before 
the  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  of  God  and,  for  the 
same  reason,  one  feels  compelled  to  admire  and  esteem 
the  relative  bearer  of  these  Divine  mights.  The  one 
who  by  a  truthful  testimony  braves  false  statements,  the 
destitute  one  who  is  still  able  and  willing  to  divide  the 
remnants  of  his  bread  with  the  hungry,  or,  the  one  who 
prays  amidst  the  scoffers  and  blasphemers,  are  lesser 
examples  of  the  power  of  a  worthy  character.  Much 
greater  is  the  power  of  those  who  are  determined  to 
purify  their  characters  from  pride,  vanity,  envy,  greed 
and  lust;  to  make  themselves  impermeable  to  corrup¬ 
tion,  in  order  to  be  capable  of  greater  spiritual  service 
to  humanity.  But  the  greatest  power  of  character  con¬ 
sists  in  the  faithful  and  indomitable  following  of  God’s 
Will  for  the  sake  of  God’s  eternal  glory  and  our  ever¬ 
lasting  honor. 

The  full  development  of  our  spiritual  power  consists 
in  the  following  of  the  Voice  of  God.  Each  Divine 
attribute  is  an  incessant  urging  of  the  soul’s  will,  a 


HONOR,  POWER  AND  DUTY  OF  MAN  99 


beacon  of  light  in  our  surrounding  darkness  and  the 
most  affectionate  call  and  invitation  to  the  eternal  par¬ 
ticipation  in  Divine  life.  Here  lies  the  great  source  of 
all  power.  Nothing  can  deter  or  sway  the  virtuous 
soul  from  the  path  of  the  Divine  Will,  nothing  can 
darken  the  lucidity  of  his  clear  vision,  and  no  love  can 
enter  his  heart  that  is  not  pure  and  holy. 

Only  these  or  similar  souls  God  chooses  as  heralds 
of  the  majesty  of  His  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love.  Com¬ 
pared  to  their  sacred  power  and  humble  attitude,  the 
glittering  crowns  of  men  are  like  human  toys  which 
sooner  or  later  are  ground  into  dust.  One  serious  reflec¬ 
tion  or  sentence,  or  one  single  appeal  to  conscience  is 
often  sufficient  to  direct  the  soul  on  a  higher  course  of 
life.  No  loud  assumption  and  no  esthetical  surface  is 
required  to  persuade  another  soul  to  follow  the  Voice 
of  God.  A  sincere,  simple  and  quiet  act  or  statement 
is  all-sufficient. 

The  majesty  of  Divine  might  embraces  those  who 
long  and  work  for  virtuous  power.  Humility  is  glorious 
and  powerful,  for  it  proves  the  supreme  honor  of  the 
soul.  Glory  demands  power  for  its  movement,  the 
very  fortitude  of  its  gloriousness,  that  it  may  act  and 
live  in  blissfulness,  the  eternal  state  of  everything  vir¬ 
tuous.  Divine  light  is  the  sun  of  glory,  wisdom  its 
holy  torch,  and  simplicity  the  truthfulness  of  virtuous 
power.  Sacrificial  love  is  the  realization  of  the  glorious 
power  of  life,  righteousness  its  most  faithful  guardian, 


100 


VIRTUES 


and  goodness  the  unceasing  attraction  and  the  never 
fading  beauty  of  spiritual  power.  These  are  the  ever¬ 
lasting  powers  of  the  profoundly  religious  character. 

All  the  inward  longing  of  the  heart  is  the  longing 
for  these  powers,  and  all  illusions  of  life  result  from 
the  lack  of  virtues.  The  soul  wants  power,  and  always 
more  power,  in  order  to  be  able  to  prove  itself  worthy 
and  always  more  worthy.  This  inward  longing  is  so 
great  that  for  want  of  virtuous  power  man  will  often 
grasp  unvirtuous  power  in  order  to  assert  at  least  the 
mere  capacity  for  power.  Human  experience  proves, 
however,  that  all  power  attained  in  violation  of  con¬ 
science  is  temporary,  precarious  and  ends  in  disaster. 
The  “human  invincible”  is  a  sham. 

The  history  of  humanity  furnishes  the  record  of 
human  power;  and  the  results  of  this  power  are  our 
present  religious,  political  and  social  conditions.  We 
observe  how  very  slow  is  the  progress  which  has  been 
made  through  the  ages.  The  masses  are  still  living  in 
ignorance  and  in  the  bondage  of  low  passions,  and,  of 
those  who  are  above  the  masses,  but  very  few  have  the 
virtuous  spirit.  How  then  is  it  possible  that  humanity 
can  rise  to  a  greater  and  happier  life?  If  the  glory 
and  power  of  divine  childship  is  not  taught  openly  in 
our  temples  and  educational  institutions,  and  if  the 
honor  and  grandeur  of  virtues  is  not  held  before  our 
eyes,  no  soul  can  attain  the  spiritual  strength  of  which 
we  are  all  so  much  in  need. 


HONOR,  POWER  AND  DUTY  OF  MAN  101 


The  commandment  or  law  of  duty  is  full  of  the 
utmost  significance.  It  demands  and  insists  on  our  par¬ 
ticipation  in  Divine  life,  which  is  the  transcendent  and 
most  real  subsistence  of  our  honor  and  power.  The 
reason  we  understand  so  little  of  this  great  fact,  and 
have  but  a  distant  feeling  of  it,  is  because  we  neither 
heed  nor  clearly  know  the  Will  of  God,  a  condition 
which  causes  our  religious  misery.  How  is  it  possible 
to  have  a  palpable  interest  in  religion,  if  God  is  not 
our  clearest  vision,  but  a  mystery!  If  this  assertion 
be  true,  then  the  Will  of  God  is  also  a  mystery  and, 
consequently,  there  cannot  exist  a  clear  and  logical 
ground  of  religion.  This  is  precisely  the  situation  in 
which  humanity  finds  itself.  We  subconsciously 
acknowledge  duties,  because  we  feel  their  insisting 
importance,  but  we  do  not  see  clearly  the  real  ground 
of  duties;  we  do  not  see  virtues  as  the  eternal  spirit  of 
Divine  attributes  and  as  the  transcendent  revelation  of 
the  holy  Will  of  God,  which  is  the  real  object  of  duty. 

It  is  true  that  we  are  very  far  from  those  heavenly 
spheres  where  virtues  are  the  palpitation  of  the  heart 
of  sanctified  souls,  but  unless  the  necessity  of  virtues  is 
clearly  explained  to  us,  and  is  brought  closer  to  our 
mind  and  heart,  we  shall  never  have  a  palpable  interest 
in  our  highest  calling  and  shall  only  seek,  as  we  so 
often  do,  for  false  consolation  in  the  consciousness  of 
our  spiritual  impotence. 

Duty  is  no  little  thing,  to  be  dismissed  by  superficial 


102 


VIRTUES 


reflections  or  feeling.  It  is  the  great  binding  power 
of  all  our  relations.  Each  movement  of  our  life  is 
filled  with  duties  and  a  thorough  performance  of  duties 
denotes  keen  sense  of  honor  and  power  of  character. 
Consequently,  duty  is  the  necessity  to  fulfill  what  is 
worthy.  And  what  is  the  worthiest  duty  to  be  ful¬ 
filled?  It  is  the  fulfillment  of  virtues,  the  great  focus 
of  honor  and  power,  the  religious  ground  of  the  worthy 
character  and  the  inviolable  rule  of  worthy  conduct. 
If  we  allow  ourselves  to  imagine  the  total  absence  of 
every  virtue  in  a  soul,  we  are  struck  by  irrepressible 
repugnance. 

Duty,  being  the  most  expressive  insistence  in  our 
life,  belongs  first  to  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  of  God, 
as  the  most  commanding  mights  of  all  life.  No  duty 
has  its  right  expression  without  the  will  for  holy  deeds, 
the  self-consciousness  of  truth  and  self-sentiency  of  love. 
No  matter  how  little  the  duty  may  be,  the  self-conscious 
and  self-sentient  volition  of  a  holy,  true  and  beneficent 
might  is  there.  Without  this  might  there  is  no  sense 
of  duty.  And  the  greater  the  sense  of  this  holy  bond, 
the  greater  is  the  ease  with  which  great  duties  are 
performed. 

The  education  of  character  consists  mainly  in  the 
thorough  understanding  and  habitual  performance  of 
duties.  Whenever  there  is  a  relaxation  or  neglect  in 
this  performance,  the  character  becomes  weaker,  and, 
on  the  contrary,  if  one  undertakes  to  perform  an 


HONOR,  POWER  AND  DUTY  OF  MAN  103 


extraordinarily  great  duty,  his  character,  in  and  after 
its  fulfillment,  gains  extraordinary  power. 

How  is  it  possible  for  humanity  to  rise  to  a  worthier 
life,  when  there  are  so  few  who  have  a  profound  interest 
in  virtue?  How  is  it  possible  to  have  this  great  interest, 
if  the  grandeur  and  the  duty  of  virtue  are  not  explained 
and  propounded  as  the  prime  condition  of  our  religious 
and  social  education?  We  hear  the  repetition  of  great 
words,  beautifully  phrased,  but  seldom,  if  ever,  is  the 
consistency  of  virtuous  power  with  our  highest  aim  of 
life  made  clear.  So  long  as  it  is  not  made  clear  to 
every  man  that  the  will,  the  mind  and  the  heart  have 
but  one  supreme  aim  and  duty,  the  duty  of  being  per¬ 
meated  with  virtues  in  order  to  possess  a  great  and 
clear  conscience,  humanity  will  remain  surrounded  by 
the  same  dangers  of  self-seeking,  ignorance,  envy  and 
hatred  which  sooner  or  later  must  result  in  another 
and  perhaps  greater  calamity. 

Never  before  in  human  history  has  there  been  a 
more  auspicious  time  for  serious  men  to  realize  the  need 
for  a  greater  and  profounder  refigion,  which,  by  its 
power  over  all  human  tendencies,  will  urge  us  to  a  more 
honorable  life,  open  a  vastly  greater  scope  for  our 
vision,  and  lead  us  to  the  noblest  achievements  in  all 
our  relations  to  God  and  our  fellow-beings.  The 
magnitude  of  this  task  requires  the  highest  efforts  of  our 
motives,  of  ceaseless,  earnest  thinking,  and  of  free 
unselfish  sentiments.  Will  the  stronger  men  see  this 


104 


VIRTUES 


urgent  need  and  devote  their  lives  to  this  spiritual  better¬ 
ment?  Or,  will  they  merely  be  satisfied  with  a  tem¬ 
porary,  material  betterment?  Assuredly,  the  pressing 
duty  of  material  betterment  is  considerable,  but  far  more 
important  is  the  duty  of  greater  spiritual  understanding 
and  harmony,  the  actual  ground  of  the  common  bless¬ 
ings  of  life. 


VIRTUES  OF  THE  WILL 


The  essence  of  the  soul  consists  in  self-conscious  and 
self-sentient  will,  self-consciousness  being  the  process 
and  self-sentiency  the  effect  of  its  life. 

Since  the  soul  has  a  strictly  religious  aim,  each  of 
its  forces  possesses  a  particular  religious  object  with 
which  it  must  correspond. 

Virtues  are  the  superspiritual  reflex  of  Divine  attri¬ 
butes  and,  as  such,  correspond  with  Divine  attributes. 
The  soul,  being  the  spiritual  force  for  the  imitation  of 
Divine  attributes,  inherently  possesses  correspondingly 
spiritual  formality  in  order  to  fulfill  this  superspiritual 
task  and  aim. 

Thus  the  order  of  virtues  is  not  only  psychological 
but  also,  and  mainly,  superspiritual;  it  is  the  dominating 
superspiritual  order  and  aim  of  the  soul. 

The  religious  will  defines  itself  through  humility, 
fortitude  and  blissfulness ,  because  humility  constitutes 
its  inward  standpoint  toward  God,  fortitude  the  energy 
to  uphold  this  divine  standpoint,  and  blissfulness  the 
state  and  joy  which  are  the  fruitful  effect  of  this  holy 
standpoint. 


105 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  HUMILITY 


Owing  to  its  sentimental  profoundness  and  effective¬ 
ness,  humility  is  usually  considered  to  be  rather  a  virtue 
of  the  heart;  hence  its  sentimental  illustrations  by  relig¬ 
ious  teachers.  Yet,  notwithstanding  its  sentimental  pro¬ 
foundness  and  effectiveness,  humility  is  essentially  a 
virtue  of  the  will  and  the  ground  of  all  other  virtues. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  necessary  to  observe  that 
we  must  beware  of  the  pessimistic  idea  of  humility 
which  takes  the  standpoint  of  human  abjectness  or 
“non-being.”  Such  ideas  of  humility  do  not  correspond 
with  the  holiest  motive  of  Divine  Creation  and  of 
Divine  Love.  Though  the  term  “humility”  may  not 
be  exact,  it,  nevertheless,  conveys  sufficiently  the  mean¬ 
ing  of  our  attitude  to  God,  which  is  its  fundamental 
importance. 

The  consciousness  and  sentiment  that  the  soul  is  not 
a  mere  accidental  or  mechanical  something,  but  a  self- 
conscious  and  self-sentient  spiritual  will,  derived  from 
the  almighty  outflow  of  Divine  Holiness,  Truth  and 
Love,  a  truth  that  every  religious  man  ought  to  know 
clearly  and  feel  most  inwardly,  lifts  the  soul  to  the 
sublime  and  just  consideration  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
child  of  God.  This  consideration  is  consistent  with 

106 


HUMILITY 


107 

Divine  Holiness,  and  is  proved  by  the  Divine  hold  on 
the  soul  through  conscience. 

Humility  is  primarily  unreserved  submission  to  the 
holiest  Will  of  God  as  our  eternal  Creator,  Lord  and 
Father  and,  therefore,  the  absolute  prototype  of  our 
relative  life. 

The  holy  source  from  which  the  virtue  of  humility 
arises  is  affinity  to,  affiliation  with,  and  imitation  of 
God,  thus  expressing  most  distinctly  our  sacred  right 
and  our  sacred  duty  of  participating  in,  cooperating 
with  and  affirming  His  holiest  Will. 

This  participating  affinity,  cooperating  affiliation  and 
affirming  imitation  is  the  supreme  reason  and  purpose 
of  our  existence  on  which  Divine  creativeness,  Divine 
dominion  and  Divine  fatherhood  is  concentrated. 

The  concentration  of  Divine  creativeness,  dominion 
and  fatherhood  on  the  soul  is  superessentially  sacrificial, 
a  free  Divine  act  for  the  sake  of  sanctifying  and  beati¬ 
fying  a  relative  being  in  the  life  of  God. 

A  higher  gift  of  life  is  inconceivable  and  impossible. 
It  imparts  worship  of  the  Life  of  God  and,  by  virtue 
of  this  worship,  the  worthiness  and  honor  of  our  life; 
for  in  the  worship  of  God  consists  the  highest  honor 
of  man. 

Without  holiness  as  the  absolute  source  and  object 
of  life  neither  worship  nor  honor  is  possible.  And 
without  worship  and  honor  life  itself  would  be  aimless 


108 


VIRTUES 


and  worthless;  it  would  have  no  superspiritual  sub¬ 
sistence  which  alone  imparts  supreme  reality  to  life. 

We  do  not  create  worship  and  dignity,  we  only  par¬ 
ticipate  in  it.  Worship  and  dignity  are  not  subordi¬ 
nated  to  our  psychic  forces,  they  are  superordinated  as 
their  ground  and  aim.  All  our  efforts  are  concentrated 
in  order  to  sustain  and  cultivate  worship  and  dignity 
in  our  inwardness,  for  the  sake  of  our  exaltation  and 
fear  of  our  debasement. 

The  will  of  the  soul  is  created  for  Divine  worship, 
its  intellect  for  Divine  truth  and  its  heart  for  Divine 
love.  Any  other  pretended  reason  for  our  existence  is 
baseless  and  absurd.  No  life  is  worth  living  unless 
worship  and  dignity  are  its  ground  and  aim. 

Accordingly,  all  our  determinations  and  visions  must 
realize  sacrificial  power  in  order  to  prove  the  worthiness 
of  our  affinity  to,  affiliation  with  and  imitation  of  God’s 
life. 

We  see  that  humility  consists  primarily  in  the  abso¬ 
lute  dependence  from  and  submission  to  God.  This 
dependence  and  submission  constitutes  the  most  glorious, 
logical  and  concrete  dependence  of  our  life.  All  that 
we  are  seeking  in  our  motives,  thoughts  and  sentiments 
is  absolute  dependence,  without  which  our  endeavors 
would  be  futile.  The  consciousness  and  feeling  of  this 
dependence  permeates  all  our  spiritual  forces  and  we 
are  unable  to  make  one  step  without  it.  Each  indi¬ 
vidual  life  is  pursued  according  to  and  builded  on  the 


HUMILITY 


109 


dependence  from  the  absoluteness  of  Holiness,  Truth 
and  Love,  the  insisting  and  obvious  attributes  of  God. 

Whenever  we  depend  on  the  promise  of  man  we 
do  so  only  on  the  ground  that  he,  too,  depends  on  and 
from  the  absolute  might  of  God.  Take  away  the 
affinity  to,  affiliation  with  and  imitation  of  God  from 
the  soul  and  there  remains  nothing  to  depend  upon; 
all  its  spiritual  forces  lack  the  necessary  sacredness. 
If  they  are  not  consistent  with  the  absolute  prototype 
of  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love,  they  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  arbitrary,  independable  and  untrue. 

Humility,  as  the  standpoint  of  unreserved  submission 
to  God,  constitutes  the  state  of  highest  exaltation  and 
freedom  in  the  Life  of  God.  Only  the  evil  spirit  of 
haughtiness,  with  its  anthropomorphically  perverted 
mentality,  or  the  morbid  depression  of  debased  souls, 
dares  to  impute  tyrannical  motives  to  God. 

What  is  more  glorious  than  the  soul’s  affinity  to 
God?  What  is  more  exalting  than  our  affiliation  with 
God?  And  what  is  more  ennobling  and  beatifying 
than  the  imitation  of  Divine  Life? 

If  religious  confessions  do  not  bring  this  cardinal 
religious  fact  into  the  foreground  of  religious  teachings, 
they  will  fail  in  their  main  mission,  and  humanity  will 
remain  in  the  same  confusion  of  mind  and  selfishness  of 
heart  which  are  today  its  most  conspicuous  features. 
If  humility  does  not  appeal  to  the  human  heart  and 


no_ VIRTUES 

if  it  does  not  convince  the  human  mind,  all  religious 
efforts  are  practically  fruitless. 

Humility  is  the  sole  condition  and  the  one  gate  of 
entrance  to  life  eternal.  All  other  virtues  arise  from 
this  root  of  all  virtues  and  are  measured  by  the  intensity 
of  its  power.  Weak  is  the  will  which  deserts  the  divine 
ground  of  humility,  the  source  of  all  spiritual  power. 
Confused  is  the  mind  which  does  not  see  and  recognize 
its  inherent  allegiance  to  and  dependence  from  the  truth 
of  God.  And  depressed  must  remain  the  heart  of  the 
man  who  relies  on  his  own  sentimental  resources  without 
absolute  assurance  of  their  eternal  reality  and  dignity. 

Humility  is  the  first  law  and  commandment  of  our 
life,  the  origin  and  focus  and  the  very  spirit  of  law¬ 
fulness.  It  is  impossible  to  affirm  a  law  that  is  not 
based  on  the  absolute  ground  of  our  dependence  from 
God. 

The  first  living  contact  with  God  is  true  humility. 
It  is  the  most  lawful  contact  because  it  is  the  most 
glorious  contact,  where  worship  becomes  the  consuming 
power  of  life.  Due  to  this  transcendent  fact  the  respect 
for  law  is  so  insisting  that  even  personal  compassion 
does  not  dare  to  infringe  on  its  authority  and  sentence. 

Humility  constitutes  the  consummate  expression  of 
cur  divine  childship,  by  virtue  of  which  our  affinity  to 
God,  our  affiliation  with  God  and  our  imitation  of  God 
is  proved  beyond  all  doubt.  Its  exaltation  imparts  the 
greatest  power  to  the  soul.  We  are  born  of  God. 


HUMILITY 


1  1  1 

We  are  born  divinely  and  divinely  our  life  must  be 
fulfilled.  Whether  the  temporary  state  of  the  soul  be 
high  or  low,  it  does  not  alter  this  transcendent  fact,  for 
the  Divine  purpose  in  creation  is  unalterable. 

However,  the  greater  the  soul’s  nearness  to  God  the 
more  overwhelming  becomes  the  truth  of  divine  child- 
ship.  And  the  greater  the  distance,  the  less  it  is  per¬ 
ceived.  Yet  Divine  love  never  deserts  the  soul,  how¬ 
ever  far  it  may  stray  from  Him,  and,  at  the  first  act  of 
repentance,  sends  its  leading  ray  of  truth  and  love  into 
conscience  to  guide  the  soul  in  its  safe  return. 

If  man  would  look  at  himself  through  the  mirror 
of  humility,  he  would  see  the  true  portrait  of  his  soul. 
He  knows  and  feels  that  he  can  see  himself  in  this 
undeceiving  reflex  of  truth,  but  his  pride,  with  its 
relentless  shame,  prefers  other,  self-imposed  mirrors. 

The  soul  loses  the  sense  of  its  divine  childship 
through  desecration  of  its  own  being,  by  abuse  and 
violation  of  holy  freedom  and  by  deliberate  removal 
of  itself  from  the  blessing  guidance  of  the  Will  of  God. 
Then  its  original  fire  of  allegiance  to  God  flickers  down 
to  a  barely  perceptible  spark  which,  in  the  agony  of 
its  debasement,  is  compelled  to  carry  the  unavoidable 
burden  of  self-made  passions. 

From  this  unholy  abyss,  distance  or  fall,  the  most 
heart-rending  cries  to  God  are  uttered.  It  is  the  God- 
created  childship  of  the  soul  which  causes  this  distress 
and  suffering  and,  at  the  same  time  elicits  the  first  act 


VIRTUES 


1  12 

of  humility  of  the  fallen  whose  sms  are  crushing  its 
proud  will.  The  return  and  rise  to  God  which  follows 
is  the  first  reckoning  with  humility,  which,  owing  to 
our  familiarity  with  sin  has  been  depicted  more  from 
the  standpoint  of  our  spiritual  distress  than  our  spiritual 
exaltation. 

Our  spiritual  distress  can  be  understood  only 
through  the  understanding  of  the  original  and  basic 
purpose  of  our  life,  the  purpose  of  the  participation  in, 
cooperation  with  and  affirmation  of  God’s  holiest  life. 
If  this  purpose  is  not  made  clear  humanity  will  remain, 
as  it  generally  has  remained,  under  the  spell  of  fatalism 
from  which  even  the  worst  distress  will  not  be  able  to 
uplift  it  to  a  worthier  life  and  greater  human  harmony. 

Humility,  being  the  first  condition  of  worthy  deter¬ 
minations,  demands  an  overpowering  appeal  to  the 
human  honor  and  character.  If  our  religious  leaders 
will  once  accept,  as  by  the  very  dignity  of  their  mission 
they  are  conscience-bound  to  accept,  divine  childship 
as  the  sole  ground  of  religious  life,  then  the  present 
denominational  misunderstanding  and  hostility,  which 
only  augments  human  hatred,  will  soon  give  place  to 

greater  and  nobler  religious  life  on  earth. 

If  our  educational  institutions  will  become  more 
permeated  with  the  holy  sense  of  humility,  they  will 
become  more  capable  of  inculcating  higher  and  worthier 
ambitions  in  the  new  generations  and  thereby  greatly 
contribute  to  the  betterment  of  our  human  society. 


_ HUMILITY _  _ [13 

And  if  human  authorities  will  be  mindful  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  only  human  beings  burdened  with  serious 
responsibilities  before  God  and  humanity,  thus  demand¬ 
ing  the  principle  of  humility  as  the  absolute  guide  of 
honor,  wisdom  and  righteousness,  then  human  strife 
will  be  turned  into  human  friendship. 

Having  made  the  objective  ground  of  humility  fairly 
clear,  let  us  now  consider  its  subjective  forms,  through 
which  the  will  attains  virtuous  power. 

Affinity  to,  affiliation  with  and  imitation  of  God 
are  the  principles  of  humility.  Principles  are  proto¬ 
types,  supreme  laws,  commandments  and  absolute 
demands.  And  what  is  the  absolute  demand  of  divine 
affinity,  affiliation  and  imitation?  The  absolute  demand 
of  affinity  is  faith,  that  of  affiliation  is  devotion  and 
that  of  imitation  is  gratitude,  the  sole  answer  to  the 
sacrificial  call  of  our  great  destiny. 


FAITH  IN  GOD 


The  first  character  of  humility  is  faith  in  God,  which 
constitutes  the  implicit  and  whole-souled  avowal  of 
and  trust  in  our  eternal  Creator,  Lord  and  Father. 
Were  it  not  for  the  transcendent  fact  of  our  affinity 
to  God  we  should  be  unable  to  aver  and  protest  our 
faith  in  God,  for  there  would  be  no  absolute  cause 
nor  demand  for  such  faith  m  our  soul  and,  conse¬ 
quently,  no  possibility  of  its  insistence  in  our  self- 
consciousness. 

Affinity  to  God  is  the  objective  and  faith  in  God 
is  the  subjective  bond  of  the  soul  with  God.  This 
bond  is  the  eternal  source,  the  holy  ground  and  the 
sublime  expression  of  religion. 

All  religious  expressions  of  our  life,  their  purity, 
elevation  and  power  are  estimated  by  the  intensity  of 
our  faith  in  God.  Since  spiritual  intensity  is  essen¬ 
tially  volitional,  therefore  the  power  of  faith  depends 
primarily  from  the  determination  of  the  self-conscious 
and  self-sentient  will. 

Affinity  to  God  is  the  supreme  gift  of  God.  Being 
transcendentally  sacrificial  and,  consequently  free,  it  is 
not  a  tyrannically  compelling  but  a  divinely  inviting 
might  for  the  affiliation  with  the  holiest  life  of  God. 

114 


FAITH  IN  GOD 


115 

Through  this  sacrificial  act  of  God  the  highest  dig¬ 
nity  and  honor  is  conferred  on  the  soul.  This  dignity 
so  deeply  permeates  our  spiritual  essence  that  the 
slightest  declaration  of  personal  unworthiness  in  acts, 
words  or  expressions  of  sentiments  causes  grief  and 
shame.  Thus  also,  in  a  contrary  event,  nothing  glad¬ 
dens  and  rejoices  us  so  highly  and  permanently  as  the 
approval  of  worthy  deeds.  This  power  of  spiritual 
dignity  is  so  insisting,  universal  and  forceful  that  no 
deed  is  executed  without  taking  a  more  or  less  distinct 
recourse  to  it  in  our  self-consciousness. 

Thus  the  spiritual  forces  of  the  soul  are  inherently 
permeated  with  conscience ,  and,  therefore,  reflecting 
our  affinity  to  God  as  our  eternal  and  holiest  Proto¬ 
type. 

Faith  in  God  is  the  first  and  exclusive  act  of  our 
will  to  conscience.  It  affirms  the  holiness,  truth  and 
love  of  God  as  well  as  our  eternal  obligation  to  Him. 
Religious  traditions  do  not  cause  conscience.  They 
only  support  conscience  according  to  received  religious 
inspiration  or  aspiration.  For  this  reason  the  value 
of  all  historical  traditions  is  scrutinized  by  conscience 
and  accepted  or  rejected  according  to  its  elevation 
or  the  lack  of  it. 

Faith  is  rightly  claimed  as  one  of  the  first  virtues, 
because  it  is  the  first  character  of  humility,  the  direct 
acknowledgement  and  acceptance  of  our  affinity  to 
God.  Without  this  inward  declaration  and  affirm  a- 


116 


VIRTUES 


tion,  our  will  loses  its  greatest  force  for  sustaining  its 
spiritual  dignity  and  cannot  feel  itself  inwardly  bound 
to  keep  faith  with  anybody.  Once  the  connection  of 
the  soul  with  its  principle  of  life  is  broken,  all  the  evolu¬ 
tions  and  results  of  its  determinations,  thoughts  and 
sentiments  are  scattered  into  inconsistent  fragments, 
spreading  continuous  disorder  and  strife  in  our  daily 
activities. 

Unity  of  action  depends  on  the  acceptance  of  the 
unity  of  principles.  God  is  the  absolute  unity  of  prin¬ 
ciples.  And,  if  we  do  not  want  to  accept  this  absolute 
divine  unity  as  the  ground,  prototype  and  aim  of  our 
life,  we  are  compelled  to  seek  for  some  substitute  in 
our  independent  ego,  with  all  the  disastrous  conse¬ 
quences  caused  by  an  undivine  independence. 

Faith  is  primarily  a  question  of  the  logic  of  our 
will.  The  will,  being  a  self-conscious  and  self-sentient 
spiritual  autonomic  force,  must  at  the  very  start  of  its 
movement  declare  its  divine  or  undivine  aim.  So  long 
as  its  self-consciousness  and  self-sentiency  of  its  divine 
childship  is  not  corrupted  and  distorted  by  self-imposed 
idols  of  passions,  its  faith  in  God  is  unyielding  and 
its  determinations  and  actions  worthy,  righteous  and 
lovable. 

The  state  of  great  souls  above  us  is  precisely  the 
state  of  this  supreme  faith.  It  is  their  great  power 
and  joy.  Even  in  the  imperfect  expressions  of  human 
martyrdom  we  see  the  power  of  faith  affirmed  and 


FAITH  IN  GOD 


117 


praised  by  all  who  have  not  lost  the  sense  of  religious 
principles. 

As  facts  prove,  there  are  no  absolute  principles  in 
the  soul.  But  facts  equally  prove  that  the  soul  must 
conform  with  absolute  principles  of  faithfulness.  The 
whole  nucleus  of  life  consists  in  the  faith  in  God.  It 
is  the  one  power  which  compels  us  to  place  faith  in 
and  keep  faith  with  man.  At  the  approach  of  each 
determination,  thinking  or  feeling,  the  first  question 
which  presents  itself  is,  can  I  place  faith  in  it  and  keep 
faith  with  it?  If  I  can,  I  must  keep  it,  because  faith 
is  intrinsically  a  bond  of  will  which  can  never  free 
itself  from  the  presentation  of  a  faithful  object. 

God  is  the  absolute  object  of  faithfulness  and  it  is 
for  this  reason  that  its  power  is  so  imperative,  binding 
and  undisruptible.  Faith  as  such  never  breaks.  It  is 
the  essence  of  fidelity  and  loyalty  and  the  most  palpable 
proof  of  the  divine  standpoint  in  us.  By  reason  of 
this  fact,  faithless  acts  are  so  strongly  denounced  and 
condemned.  Faith,  as  the  first  character  of  humility, 
is  the  first  commandment,  and  faithlessness,  as  th£  first 
expression  of  pride,  is  the  first  condemnation  of  the 
soul.  No  man,  be  he  ever  so  learned  or  ignorant,  is 
free  from  the  sentence  of  this  implacable  alternative, 
because  the  divine  or  the  undivine  is  the  sole  alternative 
of  our  whole  life. 

The  object  and  content  of  faith  is  the  first  point  of 
all  religious  creeds  as  well  as  that  of  the  chief  tendency 


118 


VIRTUES 


of  man.  Yet,  no  religious  form  has  yet  explained  the 
ontological  and  psychological  profoundness  of  faith. 
It  has  only  attenuated  the  great  power  of  faith  to  the 
historical  movements  of  religious  sentiment  with  their 
more  or  less  perfunctory  forms  of  religious  cults. 

Faith  is  not  a  subject  of  any  intellectual  or  senti¬ 
mental  attenuation,  hut  the  fundamental  rock  of 
religion,  wherever  it  may  originate.  It  is  the  ever- 
calling  Voice  of  God  for  faithfulness  to  His  Holiness, 
to  His  Truth  and  to  His  eternal  Love.  It  is  not  a 
mere  belief  or  individual  opinion,  but  the  fundamental, 
most  intrinsic  and  necessary  power  of  the  whole 
humanity.  Everybody  is  anxious  to  possess  the  power 
of  faith  within  himself  and  to  see  it  in  others  that 
he  may  himself  be  trusted  by  others  and  trust  in  others. 
And  how  wretched  is  the  one  who  can  trust  neither 
himself  nor  others!  All  our  human  relations,  whether 
collective  or  individual,  are  erected  on  the  fundamental 
basis  of  faith  and  trust. 

Naturalistic  biologists  have  apparently  overlooked 
this  most  vital  fact  of  our  life.  They  are  sometimes 
right  in  criticizing  the  logical  deficiencies  or  impos¬ 
sibilities  of  particular  creeds,  but  how  about  their  own 
biological  logic  of  life?  Shall  we  have  faith  only  in 
their  own  naturalistic  assertions?  In  that  case,  human¬ 
ity  has  only  one  recourse,  to  become  the  slave  of  the 
incomprehensible  nature,  or  more  concretely,  the  slave 


FAITH  IN  GOD 


1  19 

of  those  who  propound  its  fatalistic  teachings,  wholly 
deprived  of  the  power  of  conscience  and  honor. 

Never  have  religious  creeds  advanced  to  such  tyr¬ 
anny  as  the  radical  naturalism  has  in  store  for  us,  of 
which  aims  we  already  have  sufficient  proof  in  our 
present  social  conditions.  For  it  must  be  remembered 
by  everybody  that  each  collective  or  particular  tend¬ 
ency  of  man  is  the  tendency  for  dominion  over  others. 
It  is  only  the  truly  humble  and  faithful  soul  before 
God  that  neither  claims  nor  wants  dominion.  All  he 
claims  and  endeavors  is  service  to  God  and  humanity ; 
for  service  is  the  one  true  spirit  of  Divine  dominion. 
The  motives  of  the  humble  are  holy  and,  consequently, 
open  to  everybody  without  reservation.  And  its  senti¬ 
ments  are  sacrificial,  scrupulously  righteous  and  full  of 
benevolence  toward  friend  or  foe. 

Humanity  consists  of  souls  of  little  faith  and,  hence, 
its  actions  are  little  as  regards  the  good.  The  buried 
ruins  of  history,  and  the  recent  destructions  caused  by 
political  and  financial  passions  and  crimes,  bear  witness 
to  our  lack  of  faith  in  God  and  His  ruling  Will.  We 
worship  the  sad  heroism  of  brutal  deeds  and  material 
achievements  more  than  the  power  of  faith  and  the 
grandeur  and  beauty  of  virtues,  which,  through  their 
divine  spirit,  are  gradually  lifting  us  to  a  better  life. 
Take  away  faith  in  God,  and  the  soul  becomes  lost 
in  its  egocentric  selfness  and  is  deprived  of  the  holy 


VIRTUES 


120 

course  of  its  destiny  and  beatitude.  The  will  becomes 
enchained  by  hazard,  the  horizon  of  thoughts  becomes 
darkened  and  the  heart  feels  weak,  depressed  and  even 
desperate. 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD 


The  second  character  of  humility  is  piety.  As 
affinity  to  God  demands  faith  in  God,  thus  affiliation 
with  God  demands  devotion,  the  whole-souled  deter¬ 
mination  of  a  strong  and  zealous  attachment  to  God. 

Humility  is  not  only  the  inward  consciousness  and 
sentiment  of  our  affinity  to  God,  not  only  the  most 
intimate  pressure  of  fidelity  —  which  is  the  logical 
sequence  of  the  inward  kinship  to  God,  but  also  the 
free,  unreserved  and  consummate  dedication  of  the 
soul  to  God. 

Through  piety  faith  in  God  becomes  a  living  faith; 
the  will  begins  to  move  on  the  holy  path  of  divine 
affiliation.  Faith  gives  the  power  of  participation  in 
and  piety  the  power  of  cooperating  with  the  Life  of 
God.  H  ere  the  soul  stands  before  God  in  the  pro- 
foundest  spirit  of  oblation,  of  offering  to  Divine  glory 
its  will,  the  spiritual  power  of  glorification,  of  offering 
to  Divine  truth  its  mind,  the  spiritual  power  of  divine 
vision  and  of  offering  to  Divine  love  its  heart,  the 
repository  of  sublimest  sentiments. 

Such  is  the  life  of  conscience  in  its  greatness.  Each 
act  of  the  will,  each  gleam  of  thought  and  each  out¬ 
burst  of  the  heart  concurs  instantly  with  the  urging 

121 


VIRTUES 


122 

and  directing  dictates  of  the  Will  of  God.  Devotion 
is  the  living  life  of  divine  childship,  the  source  of  great¬ 
ness  and  power,  of  the  might  of  wisdom,  immaculate 
righteousness  and  the  ever-attracting  beauty  of  good¬ 
ness.  It  is  the  life  of  consummate  worship,  of  most 
inward  prayer  and  of  profoundest  gratitude. 

The  stages  and  degrees  of  the  concurrence  with 
conscience  distinguish  the  multiformity  of  the  souls 
striving  after  virtues.  The  profoundness  of  humility 
finds  its  gauge  and  mirror  in  devoutness.  Hence, 
though  devotion  greatly  affects  the  heart,  it,  neverthe¬ 
less,  is  the  sequence  of  the  constant  determination  of 
the  will  to  be  in  union  with  God.  Angels  live  on  devo¬ 
tion,  few  human  souls  practice  it  rightly,  and  the  sinner 
possesses  none.  Where  God  is  not  the  ever-present 
Lord  and  Father,  there  exists  no  bond  of  union,  faith¬ 
fulness  and  devotion.  Holy  life  requires  holy  efforts, 
especially  in  those  who  have  lost  the  fundamental 
virtue  of  humility. 

The  frequent  derision  of  devotion  is  due  to  religious 
ignorance,  or  is  the  consequence  of  the  abuse  of  its 
profound  content  by  superficial  formality  or  hypo¬ 
critical  ostentation.  The  truly  devout  man  is  he  whose 
will  is  permeated  with  humility,  fortitude  and  bliss¬ 
fulness,  whose  mind  is  filled  with  divine  vision,  wisdom 
and  simplicity,  and  whose  heart  contains  sacrificial  love, 
unswerving  righteousness  and  profound  goodness 
toward  every  man  and  creature.  This  is  the  true 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD 


123 


likeness  of  the  devout.  Let  the  scoffers  of  devotion 
show  us  a  stronger,  wiser  and  better  man! 

Piety  is  the  altar  of  humility,  the  bond  of  most 
intimate  and  affectionate  intercommunication  between 
God  and  the  soul.  It  is  the  living  prayer  and  eternal 
hearth  of  our  most  inward  life,  where  we  see  and  feel 
ourselves  most  real.  Here  worship  of  God  rises  to  a 
living  flame;  here  the  protestations  of  faith  and  fealty 
attain  their  highest  expression  and  obedience  its  pro- 
foundest  incentive;  here  is  enkindled  gratitude  which, 
with  its  heavenly  incense  permeates  every  movement 
of  the  soul’s  faculties.  Here  is  enacted  the  profound 
scrutiny  of  our  worthiest  motives,  deeds,  thoughts  and 
sentiments.  H  ere  all  our  sms  are  condemned  and  pro¬ 
foundly  repented,  determinations  are  formed  to  atone 
for  all  committed  wrongs,  the  sublimest  vows  and 
resolutions  for  a  worthier  life  are  performed  and  the 
assistance  of  God  for  the  rehabilitation  of  dignity  and 
righteousness  of  the  soul  are  implored. 

Each  soul  possesses  the  spiritual  power  of  devotion 
and  uses  it  in  everyday  life.  How  much  devotion  is 
so  eagerly  spent  on  little  and  often  unvirtuous  things? 
How  humble  does  one  try  to  appear  in  order  to  attain 
selfish  ambitions,  undeserved  merit  or  social  station? 
How  devoted  he  is  to  petty  and  vulgar  pleasures,  to 
selfish  pursuits  and  to  his  selfish  mediocrity  or  debase¬ 
ment,  without  a  single  serious  effort  to  rise  to  a  worthier 
and  greater  life.  Indeed,  each  soul  lives  mainly  on 


124 _ VIRTUES _ 

the  devotion  of  its  efforts.  But,  unfortunately,  it  is 
the  tendency  of  the  human  soul  not  to  live  on  the  devo¬ 
tion  of  its  efforts  to  God  and  humanity,  but  on  the 
devotion  to  its  own  independent  ego.  It  even  demands 
devotion  for  itself  from  others,  but  is  unable  to  render 
devotion  to  God  and  those  who  most  deserve  it. 

Piety  is  the  true  course  of  humility,  the  most  inward 
laboratory  of  our  spiritual  forces  and  the  field  of  our 
worthiest  attainments.  The  whole  grandeur  and  beauty 
of  the  cult  of  God  dwells  in  piety,  the  living  bond 
of  our  truest  and  most  intimate  intercommunication 
with  our  holiest  Father.  Thus  when  piety  to  God  is 
absent,  the  living  bond  with  God  is  disrupted. 

The  duty  of  obedience  is  based  on  devotion,  which, 
according  to  the  spirit  of  divine  affiliation,  possesses 
the  supreme  authority  over  our  life.  For  this  reason 
none  obeys  readily  any  cause  or  call  unless  he  is 
devoted  to  it.  Where  the  spirit  of  faith  and  devotion 
dwells,  obedience  is  not  a  burden  but  a  true  inward 
joy  in  affiliating  and  cooperating  with  the  glorious 
causes  of  our  life. 

Our  supreme  authority  is  the  glorious  Will  of  God, 
the  holy  determination  to  make  us  glorious,  according 
to  His  own  likeness.  This  is  distinctly  expressed  in 
the  urging,  guiding  and  forbidding  spirit  of  conscience 
to  which  we  all  must  and  do  submit  all  our  important 
resolutions.  If,  in  this  spirit  of  conscience,  we  do  not 
see  the  immediate  ground  of  our  eternal  destiny,  the 


125 


_ DEVOTION  TO  GOD 

glorious  life  of  holy  power,  truth  and  love,  and,  if  we 
do  not  embrace  this  Divine  superspirit  with  our  whole 
heart,  we  must  not  be  astonished  at  the  distortion  and 
perplexity  of  our  souls  and  the  consequent  strife  in 
our  endeavors. 

The  constant  perplexity  of  our  national  and  social 
institutions  proves,  to  say  the  least,  the  deficiency  of 
our  definition  of  the  supreme  laws  of  life.  And  where 
the  supreme  laws  of  life  are  not  clearly  defined  and 

i 

not  implanted  in  the  very  inwardness  of  our  hearts, 
we  can  expect  neither  great  spiritual  leaders  nor  social 
order  and  harmony. 

Without  humility,  faith  and  devotion  to  God  there 
is  neither  law  nor  harmony.  For  in  such  conditions 
everybody  can  assume  and  often  does  assume  self- 
willed  authority,  which  is  the  first  cause  of  all  strife 
and  conflict.  Each  soul  is  conscious  of  the  power  of 
dominion  and  if  it  is  not  willing  to  see  and  to  submit 
to  the  supreme  dominion  of  God,  it  seizes  as  much 
authority  as  it  dares  in  the  face  of  threatening 
opposition. 

This  seizing  of  undue  authority,  which  is  always 
abusive  and  specious,  is  the  principal  sin  of  man.  It 
is  the  first  turning  from  the  Face  of  God  to  the  despotic 
tendency  of  self-will,  where  the  virtue  of  humility  is 
denied  and  arbitrariness,  self-assertion  and  strife  have 
taken  its  place. 

Divine  authority  is  always  full  of  dignity,  of  truth 


126 _ VIRTUES  _ 

and  of  love.  It  never  judges  without  chanty  and 
never  condemns  without  mercy.  Even  for  the  most 
brutal  souls  it  keeps  the  path  of  conversion  open.  It 
always  marks  each  soul  with  its  proper  countenance 
and  through  all  the  openings  of  the  heart  it  invites  to 
the  eternal  life  of  divine  childship.  T  his  is  the  divine 
rule  for  all  human  authority,  the  imitation  of  which 
ought  to  be  the  most  arduous  task  of  all  those  who 
wield  prestige  and  power  in  our  human  community.  If 
temporary  authorities  do  not  follow  this  holy  rule,  if 
they  do  not  heed  the  glorifying  power  of  Divine 
authority,  if  its  ordinances  are  not  enlightening,  benevo¬ 
lent  and  humane,  one  must  not  be  astonished  at  the 
prevailing  spirit  of  distrust  and  restlessness  which  secular 
authorities  vainly  attempt  to  prevent. 

Since  all  evils  derive  from  pride,  faithlessness  and 
the  want  of  devotion  to  holy  causes,  the  first  task  of 
authority  is  to  prove  the  determination  of  and  devotion 
to  the  holy  cause  of  our  life.  No  law  can  be  revered 
and  sustained  that  has  no  divine  ground,  and  it  must 
be  a  consummate  fool  who  does  not  see  this  plain  fact. 


GRATITUDE  TO  GOD 


As  affinity  to  God  demands  faith  in  God,  and  as 
affiliation  with  God  demands  devotion,  thus  the  gift 
of  the  imitation  of  Divine  Life  demands  gratitude  to 
God. 

This  threefold  form  of  our  inward  relation  to  God 
gives  us  a  clear  and  irrefutable  vision  of  the  sublime 
ground  and  aim  of  our  life.  It  is  unfortunately  true 
that  to  the  average  soul  this  profound  ground  and  sub¬ 
lime  aim  of  life  is  not  sufficiently  perceptible  for  its 
spirit  to  be  fully  realized.  Yet,  it  is  also  true  that 
each  soul  has  a  subconscious  feeling  of  this  transcen¬ 
dent  spirit.  Prophets  and  mystics,  ancient  and  modern 
religious  writers  and  reformers,  in  pointing  out  this 
transcendent  spirit,  have  nursed  us  from  the  low  and 
crude  materialistic  debasement  to  the  present  spiritual 
amelioration. 

However,  it  is  not  the  average  man  to  whom  this 
exposition  of  virtues  is  directed,  but  to  those  with 
sufficient  intellectual  insight  and  sentimental  prepara¬ 
tion.  To  possess  logic  and  order  in  thinking  requires 
a  refined  and  broadly  schooled  intellect.  And  to  pos¬ 
sess  sublime  sentiments  requires  at  least  some  degree 
of  virtuous  training.  If  these  conditions  are  not  present, 

127 


128 


VIRTUES 


man  is  too  weak  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  virtuous 
life,  much  less  to  follow  it. 

The  average  man,  having  but  little  control  over 
the  most  serious  problems  of  his  life,  always  looks  up 
to  those  who  are  or  ought  to  be  able  to  explain  these 
problems.  Therefore,  it  is  for  stronger  and  nobler 
characters  that  these  pages  are  written,  that  they  be 
enabled  to  employ  with  greater  success  their  mental 
and  sentimental  faculties  for  the  holy  cause  of  life. 

Gratitude  to  God  is  the  inmost  answer  to  the  Divine 
gift  of  being  able  to  imitate  the  Life  of  God.  This 
Divine  gift  is  the  most  expressive  gift  of  Divine  Love, 
and  the  living  affirmation  of  our  divine  childship. 
Nothing  less  than  profoundest  gratitude  can  be  the 
soul’s  answer  to  this  holy  gift. 

Faith  in  God  is  the  inmost  protestation  of  our  affinity 
to  God.  Devotion  to  God  is  our  inmost  leaning  on 
God,  for  each  relative  affiliation  must  lean  on  its  abso¬ 
lute  source  in  order  to  be  a  relative  portion  of  this 
might  and  be  able  to  live  worthily.  And  gratitude 
to  God  is  the  most  affectionate  endearment  of  divine 
childship.  It  fosters  and  refines  obligation  with  delight, 
and  thus  is  the  most  binding  and  most  blessing  product 
of  humility. 

In  this  virtue,  either  the  voice  of  the  soul  is  raised 
toward  heaven  in  profoundest  thanks  for  the  participa¬ 
tion  in,  cooperation  with  and  imitation  of  Divine  Life, 
or  the  soul  lies  prostrate  before  the  transcendentally 


GRATITUDE  TO  GOD 


129 


majestic  throne  of  God  in  tears,  which  only  a  joyful 
gratefulness  can  elicit.  Gratitude  is  the  most  inward 
hymn  of  the  virtuous  and  every  final  sound  of  virtue 
is  the  sound  of  thanks.  “Blessed  be  the  Lord"  is 
the  world-embracing  song  of  prophets,  and  “God  bless 
thee”  to  a  friend  and  stranger  the  most  grateful  wish. 

Gratitude  is  full  of  intimity  and  peace.  It  suffers 
neither  strife  nor  vaunting,  and  its  spirit  is  the  spirit 
of  great  friendships.  It  causes,  animates,  cultivates  and 
consecrates  the  glorious  and  beautiful  bond  of  immortal 
friendship.  Gratitude  is  also  the  phase  of  heavenly  rest, 
where,  during  arduous  labors,  the  virtuous  soul  surveys 
his  sacred  achievements  and  pours  forth  his  profoundly 
felt  thanks.  These  thanks  concern  not  so  much  the 
complete  fulfillment  as  the  love  and  joy  of  fulfilling 
the  obligation,  for  this  virtue  is  not  a  vanishing  but  a 
constantly  living  power,  and  the  exhaling  warmth  of  a 
faithful  and  beautiful  life. 

Thus  gratitude,  in  its  inwardness,  is  not  a  mere 
incidental  act  of  appreciative  feeling,  but  the  crowning 
might  of  humility,  the  ascending  fragrance  from  the 
fire  of  virtuous  determinations,  a  fragrance  which 
draws  everything  holy  into  the  virtuous  heart,  where 
the  most  cherished  monuments  of  virtues  are  erected 
and  perpetuated. 

Consequently,  gratitude  is  the  ever-living  memory 
of  the  highest  and  best,  the  great  prompter  and  reminder 
of  true  reciprocity,  which  forgets  neither  love  nor  right- 


130 


VIRTUES 


eousness.  The  measure  of  its  might  is  as  unconfined  as 
the  gifts  of  God  are  boundless,  and  accordingly,  is 
offered  to  all  our  benefactors  with  that  deep  obligation 
which  is  the  reflex  of  their  generosity.  Hence,  little 
kindness  evokes  little  gratitude,  greater  kindness  a 
greater  gratitude,  and  the  gratitude  to  God,  the 
Supreme  Giver,  Whose  gifts  involve  the  eternal  welfare 
of  the  soul,  is  the  greatest  of  all. 

From  this  it  might  appear  that  gratitude  is  based 
on  justice.  But  in  reality  it  is  the  reverse.  The  spirit 
of  gratitude  instils  and  causes  justice,  because  gratitude 
is  the  moving  and  justice  only  the  executing  virtue. 
Hence,  where  there  is  no  gratitude,  righteousness  is 
impossible — a  fact  which  is  often  illustrated  not  only 
in  general  life,  but  even  in  friendly  relations. 

In  the  virtuous  soul  the  gratitude  for  participation  in 
the  Divine  Will  is  so  complete  that  its  application  in 
all  human  relations  becomes  a  necessity.  No  righteous 
man  will  denounce  an  evil  deed  of  the  one  who  has 
given  proof  of  some  worthiness  with  the  same  severity 
that  he  will  denounce  the  evil  deed  of  him  who  has 
no  distinct  worthiness.  In  all  our  judgments,  and  in 
the  execution  thereof,  gratitude  must  always  be  con¬ 
sidered,  that  it  may  prompt  forgiveness  of  little  offenses 
and  enhance  the  ever-needed  spirit  of  charity. 

Gratitude  is  the  living  spring  of  blissfulness  and  the 
prompter  of  sacrifices,  because  it  answers  sacrifice  with 
sacrifice.  Its  inward  motive  is  to  give  more  than  it 


131 


_ GRATITUDE  TO  GOD 

receives,  for  in  this  motive  dwells  the  spirit  of  God 
which  always  gives  more  than  it  receives. 

Nothing  is  sweeter  in  life  than  the  debt  of  love 
which  defines  gratitude  in  its  essence.  All  virtuous  love 
originates  from  this  indebtedness  to  God,  and,  corre^ 
spondingly,  involves  all  those  who  partake  in  this  great 
love  and  are  instrumental  in  bringing  it  nearer  to  our 
poor  vacillating  and  confused  hearts.  If  this  great 
virtue,  which  is  the  living  expression  of  humility,  were 
taught  as  it  should  be  taught,  humanity  would  soon 
have  a  much  brighter  face,  and  all  its  religious,  social 
and  personal  relations  would  adjust  themselves  with 
surprising  facility. 

As  the  effective  form  of  the  virtue  of  humility,  grati¬ 
tude  is  the  most  distinct  test  of  worthiness  of  the  human 
character.  Through  this  virtue  the  whole  faith,  loyalty 
and  devotion  becomes  true  and  real.  It  involves  all 
the  soul’s  forces  not  only  in  praising  but  also  in  achiev¬ 
ing  the  highest  good. 

Gratitude  without  deeds  is  only  a  superficial  grati¬ 
tude.  But  even  this  general  superficiality  of  gratitude 
proves  the  ever-insisting  spirit  of  obligation.  A  con¬ 
siderable  material  assistance,  regardless  of  the  apparent 
sincerity  of  emotions,  cannot  be  dismissed  with  a  mere 
expression  of  thanks.  And  much  less  can  thus  be 
dismissed  a  spiritual  assistance  which,  by  its  very  dig¬ 
nity,  is  of  an  infinitely  greater  importance. 

The  deed,  and  not  mere  thoughts  and  sentiments, 


132 


VIRTUES 


is  the  first  proof  of  the  human  character;  a  worthy  gift 
is  a  gift  of  worthy  love.  Is  it  right  that  gratitude  be 
deprived  of  activity?  The  lack  of  active  gratitude  is 
the  cause  of  all  human  disharmonies.  We  receive  our 
life  from  God,  we  receive  our  rearing  from  our  parents, 
we  receive  our  education  from  them  and  from  our 
teachers;  and  these  deeds  of  love  are  too  often  the  last 
things  we  think  of.  All  the  givers,  from  God  to  man, 
have  a  large  volume  of  justified  charges  against  each 
soul.  Where  the  sense  of  gratitude  is  not  active  no 
nrtutual  understanding  and  sentiment  is  possible. 

In  vain  is  the  cry  for  mutuality  where  the  virtue 
of  faith  in  God  is  not  the  soul  and  substance  of  our 
endeavor,  where  the  virtue  of  devotion  to  the  highest 
cause  of  our  life  is  not  the  infinite  field  of  our  activities, 
and  where  the  virtue  of  gratitude  is  not  our  main  and 
incessant  animation  in  the  fulfillment  of  our  duties. 

Concluding  this  chapter,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that 
humility,  consisting  of  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude,  is 
the  first  and  fundamental  virtue,  the  root  of  the  sub- 
limest  and  best,  and  the  profoundest  ground  of  worthi¬ 
ness.  It  impels,  leads,  sanctifies  and  permeates  all 
virtuous  expressions  of  life;  and  all  other  virtues  follow 
its  profoundness  and  its  elevation. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  FORTITUDE 


The  virtue  following  humility  is  fortitude,  the  course, 
evolution  and  power  of  humility.  The  sublime  dignity 
of  the  soul’s  affinity  to  and  affiliation  with  God  inher¬ 
ently  demands  supreme  power  of  will  to  affirm  its  holy 
state  of  destiny. 

Fortitude  relates  to  humility  as  Divine  Perfection 
relates  to  Divine  Holiness,  or,  psychologically,  as  free¬ 
dom  or  movement  of  the  will  to  the  soul’s  motor  of  the 
will.  In  each  instance  the  activity  of  the  principle  is 
manifest  in  the  process. 

Since,  through  the  attribute  of  His  perfection,  God 
reveals  His  absolute  might,  it  is  consistent  and  necessary 
that  the  soul,  as  the  affiliating  offspring  of  Divine  love, 
reveals  and  proves  the  worthiness  of  its  existence  by  a 
supreme  effort  of  all  its  spiritual  forces  to  God  as  the 
absolute  prototype  of  holy  might. 

Relative  power  flows  from  the  Divine  attributes  and 
can  subsist  on  its  eternal  source  only.  Once  this  source 
is  lost  by  neglectful  or  independent  self-will,  affiliation 
with  God  becomes  weakened  and  our  power  of  worthy 
activity  is  commensurately  diminished. 

Neither  our  human  souls  nor  the  worlds  within  the 

133 


134 


VIRTUES 


compass  of  our  external  vision  are  in  immediate  nearness 
to  the  eternally  burning  fire  of  Divine  Perfection  from 
which  flow  all  substances  of  life.  For  this  reason  our 
whole  life  lacks  the  immediate  contact,  view  and 
warmth  of  Divine  Life  and,  the  consequent  interest  in 
Its  unfathomable  profundity. 

We  left  the  eternal  source  of  spiritual  power  of  our 
own  free  will,  and  with  it  the  grandeur  and  felicity 
of  our  life.  Hence  by  virtue  of  our  free  will,  we 
must  find  the  eternal  source  of  might  in  order  to  regain 
the  original  power  and  bliss  of  our  divine  childship. 

Fortitude,  being  the  worthiest  activity  of  the  will, 
manifests  itself  through  three  volitional  characters: 
Inward  energy  for  sanctification ,  perseverance  in  virtue 
and  triumph  over  the  evil. 


INWARD  ENERGY  FOR  SANCTIFICATION 


The  cause  of  inward  energy  for  sanctification  is 
exaltation  of  Divine  childship.  The  offspring  of 
Divinity  needs  and  desires  to  prove  the  worthiness  of 
its  holy  origin,  and,  consequently,  endeavors  with  all 
its  power  to  remain  in  utmost  nearness  to  the  throbbing 
Will  of  God  from  whence  its  life  is  derived.  The 
nearer  the  soul  is  to  the  center  of  its  transcendent 
source,  the  greater  is  its  power.  It  wants  to  attain 
its  original  position  in  order  fully  to  cooperate  with  the 
Divine  Will. 

If  the  soul,  through  abuse  or  neglect  of  its  holy 
freedom,  forfeits  the  position  of  Divine  nearness  and, 
consequently  regresses  to  a  greater  or  less  distance  from 
the  immediate  contact  with  God,  it  becomes  weakened, 
anxious  and  restless.  Correspondingly  with  its  dis¬ 
tance,  the  eternal  support  and  holy  influx  of  Divine 
might  is  diminished  as  the  result  of  the  lack  of  nearness 
to  the  fount  of  might  which  animates  the  desire  for 
great  deeds,  enlightens  the  mind  with  wisdom  and 
inspires  the  love  of  sacrifice. 

Divine  affinity  begets  fortitude,  faith  holds  it,  devo¬ 
tion  cultivates  it  and  gratitude  adorns  it.  The  whole 
affiliation  and  cooperation  of  the  soul  with  the  Will 

.135 


1 36 _ VIRTUES _ 

of  God  is  predominantly  that  of  fortitude,  for  fortitude 
is  the  movement  of  humility  through  faith,  devotion  and 
gratitude.  Through  fortitude  the  soul  is  mighty  in 
its  essence  and  great  in  all  evolutions  and  expressions 
of  life.  Its  inward  energy  transcends  all  forces  of  the 
universe,  because  it  consists  of  the  energy  of  sanctifica¬ 
tion — the  consummate  affirmation  of  the  supreme  Will 
of  God. 

This  energy  is  heroism  in  its  sublimest  sense.  Great 
souls  are  heroes  of  sanctified  determination.  Nothing 
is  too  great  for  them  to  attempt  and  attain,  and  nothing 
too  little  to  raise  to  importance  and  grandeur.  Grandeur 
is  the  object  of  fortitude  and  all  the  movements  of 
the  great  will  are  great  sanctified  movements. 

Freedom  of  the  will  intrinsically  adheres  to  the 
energy  of  sanctification,  for  this  is  the  real  title  to  the 
right  of  freedom.  All  other  energies  and  freedoms 
are  baseless  and  worthless.  Conscience  palpably  calls 
for  this  holy  energy  and  our  spiritual  dignity  demands 
it.  Therefore,  jhe  cleaving  of  the  soul’s  will  to  con¬ 
science  is  the  eternal  anchor  of  fortitude,  the  unre¬ 
strained  following  of  conscience  is  the  course  of  forti¬ 
tude,  and  the  holy  victory  over  all  ungodly  obstructions 
is  the  crowning  result  of  fortitude. 

The  freedom  of  God  is  the  superessential  attribute 
of  Divine  perfection,  the  prototype  of  all  freedom. 
Consequently,  the  freedom  of  the  soul  is  perfectibility, 
the  sole  worthy  and  logical  course  of  our  energy.  The 


'ENERGY  FOR  SANCTIFICATION 


137 


proof  of  this  fact  is  obvious.  Where  there  is  no  energy 
to  fulfill  the  laws  of  God,  there  is  confusion  and  dis¬ 
tress,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  greater  the  energy 
for  the  sublime  and  good,  the  greater  the  blessing  and 
peace — not  a  peace  of  indolence,  but  a  peace  of  great 
internal  activity,  consisting  in  the  consciousness  of 
unselfish  and  worthy  achievements. 

The  virtuous  soul  never  ponders  on  vain  achieve¬ 
ments  involving  fame  or  material  gain,  but  only  on  how 
to  apply  his  energies  to  fulfill  the  greatest  good  toward 
others.  Fie  obtains  this  spirit  through  his  intimate  con¬ 
tact  with  God  and  offers,  freely  his  spiritual  riches  to 
all  who  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  them.  All  his 
energy  is  centered  on  the  one  object,  the  attainment  and 
distribution  of  spiritual  wealth.  In  this  object  his 
cooperation  with  the  Will  of  God  becomes  great,  if 
not  yet  consummate.  Is  there  a  greater  freedom  pos¬ 
sible?  Or,  is  possession  of  worldly  power  worth  more 
than  the  sacredness  of  the  human  character?  The  man 
whose  conscience  is  not  wholly  debased  will  readily 
perceive  and  feel  the  answer  to  this  question. 

The  greatness  of  the  honor  of  man  lies  in  the  extent 
of  his  inward  energy  for  virtue.  Unfortunately,  we 
seldom,  if  ever,  come  in  contact  with  a  highly  virtuous 
man,  and  what  is  still  worse,  we  are  spiritually  so  undis¬ 
cerning  that,  if  we  meet  him,  we  do  not  recognize  him. 
Humanity  is  so  permeated  with  common  self-seeking 
that  it  is  unable  to  sense  the  profound  worthiness  of 


1  38 _ VIRTUES _ ; _ 

another;  hence,  the  great  honor  and  energy  of  the 
virtuous  soul  remains  a  mystery  to  others  and  a  holy 
secret  to  himself.  Had  humanity  but  a  small  number 
of  men  and  women  of  great  virtuous  energy,  our  con¬ 
fused  world,  always  on  the  brink  of  danger,  would 
attain  securer  and  much  happier  conditions  of  life. 

True  religious  mission  consists  in  the  sanctification  of 
souls,  the  inculcating  and  promoting  of  the  inward 
energy  of  conscience.  Thus  far  the  task  of  guiding 
souls  to  divine  childship  has  not  developed  its  real 
power,  because  it  does  not  yet  possess  the  clear  truth 
of  our  affinity  to,  affiliation  with  and  imitation  of  Divine 
Life  as  the  principal  ground  of  religion.  It  only  has 
aspirations  for  this  truth.  Without  the  clear  vision  of 
this  all-important  fact  of  life  we  cannot  expect  a  per¬ 
manent  religious  revival. 

Furthermore,  many  men  who  officially  teach  religion 
are  discordant  among  themselves  and  frequently  hostile 
to  the  convictions  of  others.  Instead  of  spreading  unify¬ 
ing  love  they  often  spread  hate  under  the  cover  of 
religion.  Hate  is  the  most  poisoning,  most  perversive 
and  most  destructive  force  of  spiritual  life.  No  man 
with  self-respect  dares  to  express  it.  In  view  of  this 
deplorable  state,  how  is  it  possible  to  expect  a 
world-embracing  religious  revival  from  denominational 
quarters? 

The  world-embracing  revival  depends  on  the  spirit 
of  the  energy  for  sanctification.  All  efforts  must  be 


ENERGY  FOR  SANCTIFICATION 


139 


employed  by  all  endowed  and  stronger  men  for  this 
sublime  cause.  If  humanity  complains  of  the  lack  of 
great  spiritual  leaders,  why  does  it  not  endeavor  to  pro¬ 
duce  such  leaders?  Why  does  it  not  notice,  encourage 
and  assist  those  virtuously  inclined,  unassuming, 
thoughtful,  vigorous  and  unselfish  young  men  who  are 
the  best  potential  material  for  human  leadership  and 
order?  There  is  no  lack  of  noble  intention,  ability 
and  talent  among  men,  but  there  is  a  complete  lack 
of  the  will  to  educate  these  higher  forces  to  greater 
spiritual  efficiency.  In  consequence  of  this  lack,  talents 
are  applied  to  mere  national,  denominational  or  per¬ 
sonal  aims.  Where  the  Superspirit  of  God  is  not  recog¬ 
nized  and  accepted  as  the  supreme  leader  of  human 
order,  elevation  and  happiness,  the  efforts  of  the  best 
men  have  little  success  and  value. 


PERSEVERANCE  IN  VIRTUE 


Perseverance  in  virtue  consists  in  the  unrestrained 
following  of  the  Will  of  God.  The  first  cause  of 
perseverance  is  the  insistence  of  humility,  with  its 
demand  of  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  to  God.  No 
virtue  is  attainable  without  these  principal  factors  of 
our  life.  The  soul,  in  order  to  be  mighty,  must  follow 
Divine  determination  to  the  gates  of  its  inmost  perfec¬ 
tion  that  it  clearly  see  and  execute  the  holiest  motives 
of  Divinity.  In  this  following  consists  the  test  of  per¬ 
severance  and  the  most  fruitful  course  of  the  will. 

This  virtue,  or  even  the  attempt  to  attain  it,  is 
prompted  by  inward  solicitude  for  the  glorification  of 
God  and  for  the  affirmation  of  our  worthiness  in  Divine 
glory.  This  is  God’s  holy  Will  toward  us.  Holiness 
suffers  no  impurity  in  its  presence  and  requires  the 
highest  heroism  of  the  soul’s  will  for  what  is  holy. 
Virtuous  heroism  is  inspiring  and  beautiful,  and  every 
throb  of  humble  determination,  every  ray  of  the  God- 
seeing  mind,  and  each  impulse  of  the  sanctified  heart 
is  heroic.  None  but  the  highest  heroes  of  virtue  sur¬ 
round  the  throne  of  God.  The  superhuman  types  of 
souls  possess  precisely  this  habitual  heroism,  the  realiz¬ 
ing  power  of  intimate  affilation  with  God. 

140 


PERSEVERANCE  IN  VIRTUE 


141 


In  our  upward  course  to  God,  the  necessity  for  per¬ 
severance  is  impelling  and  exacting.  Abhorring  the 
darkness  of  passions  and  vices,  the  soul  longs  to  return 
to  holy  honor,  holy  freedom,  light  and  lasting  happiness 
in  the  life  of  divine  childship. 

Purification  through  repentance  and  destruction  of 
low  habits  depends  on  ardor  and  perseverance,  for 
without  these  nothing  worth  mentioning  is  attainable. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  depth  of  the  fall  is  commen¬ 
surate  with  the  persistence  in  the  evil;  therefore,  it  is 
just  that  evil  persistence  be  eliminated  by  equal  or 
higher  perseverance  in  the  good. 

Many  good  resolutions  fail  owing  to  the  oversight 
and  neglect  of  this  fact  of  justice.  This  fact,  however, 
cannot  become  a  living  fact  in  us  unless  it  is  encour¬ 
aged  and  nourished  by  humility,  by  the  recognition  of  ' 
our  dependence  from  the  almighty  Will  of  God,  by 
the  necessity  of  faith  in  the  holiness  of  His  love,  by 
the  presentation  of  devotion  as  the  sublimest  conduct 
of  life  and  by  the  eternal  debt  of  gratitude  to  God. 
Without  this  spiritual  nourishment  in  our  intimate  affilia¬ 
tion  with  God  no  absolute  justice  is  possible.  No  man 
has  originated  either  absoluteness  or  justice.  They 
stand  of  themselves  above  us  as  the  dominating  glory 
of  all  life. 

The  practical  school  of  our  life  is  perseverance  in 
the  effort  to  attain  virtues.  Nothing  great  can  be 
learned  without  it.  No  skill  is  attained  without  per- 


1 42 _ VIRTUES _ 

sistent  practice,  and  virtue  demands  the  highest  spiritual 
skill  in  order  to  be  powerful  and  effectual.  Whether 
it  is  a  duty  to  be  fulfilled,  a  thought  to  be  considered 
or  a  sentiment  to  be  awakened  and  made  clear,  the 
skill  of  conscience  is  required  to  make  the  result  vir¬ 
tuous.  The  whole  exercitation  of  each  deed,  thought 
and  sentiment  depends  on  its  virtuous  motive  and  aim. 

This  fundamental  law  of  conscience  must  be  ever¬ 
present  before  we  can  be  assured  of  the  virtuousness 
of  our  deeds,  [his  practice  is  of  the  highest  necessity, 
because  what  originally  issues  from  God  must  be  per¬ 
formed  divinely.  On  this  purpose  our  chief  attention 
must  be  focused  in  order  to  reach  a  distinct  understand¬ 
ing  of  a  truly  virtuous  act.  If  this  purpose  is  over¬ 
looked  or  neglected,  pride  creeps  into  the  heart,  as  is 
so  often  noticeable  in  souls  even  of  nobler  tendencies. 

No  man  is  so  great  as  to  have  a  right  to  exercise 
absolute  authority  over  others.  Absolute  authority  is 
strictly  a  Divine  prerogative;  and  -human  authorities 
are  mere  instrumental  authorities,  the  relative  guardians 
of  the  little  good  our  souls  have  attained. 

Hitherto  our  world  has  had  few  men  in  authority 
who  have  been  distinguished  by  the  virtuous  spirit  of 
fortitude.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  our  ruling 
men  in  all  ages,  filled  with  selfishness  and  vices.  The 
occasional  attempts  for  betterment  have  improved  our 
conditions  altogether  too  little  because  there  have  been 
too  few  virtuous  teachers  and  too  few  men  to  support 


PERSEVERANCE  IN  VIRTUE 


143 


them,  to  achieve  a  real  and  lasting  spiritual  improve¬ 
ment. 

The  ruling  authorities  are  nothing  but  the  legal 
expression  of  the  will  of  the  masses  who  support  and 
tolerate  them,  and,  unless  the  masses  are  moved  to 
greater  fortitude  of  conscience  and  character  we  must 
not  expect  a  marked  amelioration  in  our  human  rela¬ 
tions.  Thus  we  see  that  fortitude  is  the  inalienable 
condition  of  our  inward  progress  and  that  perseverance 
in  fortitude  is  the  sole  course  of  our  personal  and  social 
elevation. 

What  constitutes  the  power  of  the  will  which  we 
so  often  admire?  It  is  not  so  much  the  resolution  in 
itself  as  the  faithful  perseverance  in  its  fulfillment  which 
causes  our  admiration.  Then  the  whole  importance, 
truth  and  devotion  to  a  great  cause  is  made  plain.  How 
much  power  of  will  is  squandered  in  obtaining  a  selfish 
aim  of  personal  ambition,  vanity,  sensual  delight  and 
luxury,  all  of  which  are  denounced  by  conscience  as 
the  enemies  of  divine  and  human  order  and  of  true 
harmony  and  happiness,  and  all  of  which  have  the 
contagious  force  of  vitiating  other  souls? 

Whenever  we  meet  a  man  of  extraordinary  religious 
character  and  ask  him  how  he  attained  his  spiritual 
intellect  and  power,  he  will  tell  us  that  he  persevered 
in  his  worthy  decisions,  he  was  faithful  to  his  vows, 
covenants  or  promises,  he  was  devoted  to  the  truest  and 


144 


VIRTUES 


best  and  that  he  feels  profound  gratitude  to  God  for 
the  faith  and  devotion  to  his  divine  destiny. 

Perseverance  is  to  be  discriminated  from  patience, 
which  is  only  a  passive  expression  of  perseverance. 
While  perseverance  demands  all  energy  in  order  to 
enact  virtue,  patience  is  only  concentrated  on  bearing 
all  hindrances  which  restrain  the  soul’s  eagerness  in 
attaining  virtue.  Thus  patience  is,  so  to  speak,  a  gentle 
brake  on  virtuous  energy.  Patience  follows  perse¬ 
verance  but  does  not  urge  or  guide  it.  There  are 
many  who  patiently  wait  for  a  higher  life,  but  few 
who  steadfastly  work  for  the  attainment  of  it.  Mystic 
quietism  and  contemplation  illustrate  this  patient 
religious  tendency,  which  notwithstanding  its  worthy 
features,  has  proved  utterly  insufficient  to  further  the 
progress  of  religious  life. 


TRIUMPH  OVER  THE  EVIL 


Since  cooperation  with  the  Will  of  God  constitutes 
the  virtue  of  fortitude,  the  superhuman  souls  take  a 
tremendous  part  in  combating  the  evil  in  lower  worlds 
and  conditions  of  life.  We  already  have  a  limited 
view  of  this  fact  in  our  own  little  world.  Though  we 
have  no  exact  knowledge  of  the  great  organizations  of 
the  mighty  spirits  above  us,  we  nevertheless  are  able 
to  form  a  sufficient  idea  of  their  influence  by  under¬ 
standing  the  invincible  power  which  great  virtues  confer. 
We  find  examples  of  this  fact  in  our  human  history. 
In  the  course  of  the  ages,  great  souls  of  high,  virtuous 
courage  and  inspiration  have  appeared.  Combat  with 
the  existing  evil  and  the  pointing  out  of  the  virtuous 
road  to  heaven  was  the  labor  of  their  lives. 

Each  of  these  great  souls  manifested  the  particular 
virtue  that  he  possessed,  and,  through  the  might  of 
their  influence,  humanity  has  been  raised  from  low  pas¬ 
sions  to  a  more  tolerable  state,  in  which  tangible  prog¬ 
ress  has  been  made  in  the  education  of  the  human 
character.  The  effect  and  example  of  their  fortitude 
has  given  and  is  yet  giving  us  the  view  and  the  feeling 
of  the  necessity  for  a  virtuous  factor  in  order  to  insure 
a  tolerable  human  concord.  The  result  of  the  dis- 

145 


146 


VIRTUES 


regard  of  their  virtuous  teachings  and  admonitions  is 
seen  in  our  police  and  state  regulations,  prisons  and 
wars. 

In  our  personal  combat  with  evil,  the  soul  discloses 
and  develops  the  greatest  courage.  Freedom  from 
tyrannical  pride,  from  the  besottedness  of  conceit,  from 
the  insipidity  of  vanity,  from  the  madness  of  envy  and 
greed,  as  well  as  from  the  morose  bitterness  of  the 
loveless  heart,  the  dangers  of  injustice  and  the  profli¬ 
gacy  of  the  love  of  the  flesh,  are  all  objects  which  are 
worthy  of  and  should  inspire  the  greatest  efforts  and 
courage  of  all  better  souls.  Nothing  relieves  the  soul 
from  this  base  and  dishonorable  bondage  save  the 
practice  of  fortitude. 

In  our  earthly  life  no  achievement  is  more  beneficent 
than  the  triumph  of  freedom  from  sin.  This  is  the 
main  tendency  of  our  education.  For,  only  then  the 
soul  begins  to  understand  and  attain  the  love  for  the 
profoundness  and  power  of  virtuous  life.  Only  then 
it  begins  to  feel  keenly  the  high  honor  and  power  flow¬ 
ing  from  the  faithfulness  to  God.  And  only  then  it 
understands  and  longs  for  the  blissfulness  and  beauty 
of  piety  and  gratitude.  Then  life  begins  to  be  real. 
Every  virtuous  deed,  thought  and  sentiment  adds  to 
the  positive  account  of  a  glorious  life,  and,  with  each 
advancing  stage  of  virtuous  progress,  the  soul  rises 
higher  and  higher  until  it  reaches  the  consummation  of 
its  efforts  and  labors  at  the  eternal  throne  of  God. 


TRIUMPH  OVER  THE  EVIL 


147 


Countless  opportunities  are  open  to  those  who  have 
the  power  of  virtuous  character  to  battle  against  the 
existing  evil  of  spiritual  sloth,  mental  darkness 
and  debasing  selfishness.  Where  are  those  who  will 
seize  these  great  opportunities?  Is  not  the  world  long¬ 
ing  and  waiting  for  them?  We  prepare  millions  for 
battlefields,  we  are  spending  unlimited  sums  for  political 
issues  and,  in  the  gvent  of  war,  we  even  invoke  God’s 
help  in  these  issues.  We  encourage  our  fathers,  sons 
and  brothers  to  bravery,  we  face  death,  destruction, 
heart-rending  suffering,  disease  and  starvation,  and  all 
for  issues  of  a  minor  order.  Surely,  if  we  do  not  have 
the  spirit  of  sacrifice  of  the  first  order  pertaining  to  the 
virtuous  character  of  mankind,  we  must  pay  one  hun¬ 
dredfold  for  issues  of  a  minor  order.  We  must  endure 
and  witness  the  ghastliness  of  human  passions  before 
we  awaken  to  the  fact  that  the  prime  factor  of  our 
inward  and  outward  relations  is  the  human  character. 
For  in  the  human  character  lies  the  real  spiritual  battle¬ 
field,  and  all  essential  and  most  pressing  labor  must 
be  concentrated  on  this  inward  battle. 

Nowhere  should  fortitude  be  exercised  as  constantly 
as  in  the  rise  of  our  character,  the  fortress  of  our  God- 
given  honor  and  the  invincible  rampart  against  evil 
aggression.  The  character  of  the  soul  must  be  tri¬ 
umphant,  for  such  is  the  Will  of  God  and  the  demand 
of  all  final  issues  of  conscience.  It  is  worth  while  to 
suffer  and  to  die  for  any  spiritual  advancement,  for 


148 


VIRTUES 


in  a  world  like  ours,  suffering  and  sacrifices  are  the 
surest  stepping  stones  to  virtuous  progress. 

Owing  to  its  low  religious  state,  humanity  craves  for 
continuous  examples  and  tangible  pictures,  as  all  chil¬ 
dren  do.  Far  removed  from  religious  manhood,  it 
needs  all  the  manly  leadership  that  can  be  furnished 
by  those  of  greater  spiritual  attainments;  it  needs  an 
army  of  religious  and  philosophical  teachers  of  the 
highest  type  of  conscience,  character  and  knowledge, 
who  will  strive  to  free  it  from  the  debasing  habits 
of  self-seeking  and  self-complacency,  and  establish 
social  rules  which  will  fill  our  earth  with  lasting  blessing. 

Here  the  rich  and  the  poor  can  compete  with  noblest 
zeal.  Means  and  ability  are  mutual  servants.  If  for¬ 
tunes  are  demanded  for  material  rights  and  comforts, 
why  should  they  not  be  demanded  for  the  education 
and  edification  of  humanity?  If  man  does  not  heed 
the  terrible  lesson  of  suffering,  and  forgets  the  evils 
which  have  caused  it,  he  will  delay  the  opportunity  for 
the  triumph  over  the  evil,  and,  in  due  time,  will  suffer 
more  than  ever  for  his  selfish  neglect.  Great  world¬ 
shaking  events  are  potent  means  and  opportunities  for 
greater  spiritual  progress. 

The  main  power  of  the  triumph  over  the  evil  lies 
in  the  energy  of  sanctification  and  perseverance  in 
virtue.  Without  this  reason  of  worthy  activity  the 
evil  among  men  cannot  be  eliminated.  The  character 
of  the  soul  cannot  grow  on  undivine  ground.  There 


TRIUMPH  OVER  THE  EVIL 


149 

is  a  principle  to  all  things  and  with  so  much  more  rea¬ 
son  a  principle  for  worthy  growth.  The  might  of  this 
principle  is  the  ever-battling  conscience  with  the  evil 
for  the  sake  of  glorious  edification. 

Conscience  is  the  holy  focus  of  our  religious  life 
and  the  power  of  inspiration  to  and  execution  of  all 
worthy  deeds.  It  is  the  divine  former  of  our  character 
and  the  conqueror  of  all  evil.  Consequently,  the  one 
who  has  dignity  and  honor  at  his  heart  must  not  only 
extricate  and  guard  his  conscience  from  all  evil  asso¬ 
ciation  and  influence,  but  also  seek  for,  find  and  cherish 
such  association  as  will  assist  him  to  be  a  better  man. 

Friendship  and  friendly  associations  are  not  given 
for  selfish  purposes.  They  are  sacred  and  sacramental 
spiritual  bonds,  and  the  one  who  fears  to  lose  his  whim¬ 
sical  and  selfish  independence  in  such  friendship  is 
not  worthy  of  it.  Profound  friendship  derives  from 
the  mutual  energy  of  sanctification  and  from  the  mutual 
support  in  the  perseverance  in  virtues,  for  through  this 
holy  solidarity  the  soul  is  assured  of  the  final  triumph 
over  the  evil  and  of  a  freer  course  to  glorious  life. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  BLISSFULNESS 


Humility  is  the  fundamental  cause,  and  fortitude 
the  fundamental  course  of  spiritual  blissfulness,  pre¬ 
cisely  as  Holiness  and  Perfection  of  God  are  the  cause 
and  course  of  His  Eternity.  Virtues,  being  the  relative 
reflex  of  Divine  attributes,  possess  the  inherent  order 
of  Divine  attributes.  Their  logic  is  unalterable.  They 
relate  to  the  following  of  the  holiest  Life  of  God,  the 
absolute  prototype  of  all  spiritual  activity. 

All  worthy  deeds  and  all  worthy  states  of  souls  have 
their  absolute  prototype  from  which  they  receive  their 
inspiration  and  blessing.  An  independent  relativity  is 
impossible  and  unthinkable.  Even  the  minutest  effects 
have  their  objective  causes.  And  why  should  the 
greatest  effect  in  our  life,  which  is  blissfulness,  not  have 
a  supremely  objective  cause? 

This  objective  cause  is  Divine  eternity,  the  perfect 
fulness  of  Divine  Life.  Owing  to  this  transcendent 
fact  the  desire  for  immortal  life  is  so  insisting.  Only 
spiritual  despondency  temporarily  suppresses  this  desire, 
but  it  cannot  eliminate  it. 

Immortality  is  the  sense  of  eternity,  of  all  inspiration 
and  of  inward  promise.  Were  it  not  for  this  universal 

150 


BLISSFULNESS 


151 


fact  our  life  would  be  aimless  and  useless;  we  should 
have  no  reason  for  expecting  glory,  honor,  and  happi¬ 
ness.  These  objects  are  the  main  objects  we  are  living 
for.  They  are  the  life-giving  and  life-supporting 
objects  of  life.  If  these  objects  could  be  eliminated, 
life  itself  would  have  to  be  eliminated.  Life  would 
have  no  real  object  for  which  to  live;  there  would  be 
no  glory,  no  worthiness,  no  truth  and  no  love  and, 
consequently,  no  worthy  personal  reason  for  any  worthy 
attainment  in  life. 

It  is  the  operation  of  Divine  eternity,  the  holy  influ¬ 
ence  of  Divine  Life  which  constantly  causes  in  our  soul 
the  perception  and  sensation  of  the  flashes  and  sparks 
of  immortality.  Indeed,  unenlightened  is  the  soul 
which  only  perceives  the  sparks  of  immortality,  and 
dark  is  the  one  which  does  not  care  to  perceive  them, 
although  they  burn  its  heart.  But  the  virtuous  one 
who  sees  the  light  of  life  and  feels  the  warmth  of  life 
m  immortality  has  a  clear  vision  of  his  glorious  origin 
and  aim,  and  his  courage  never  abates  in  reaching  his 
final  goal,  the  imitation  of  the  eternal  Life  of  God. 

Difficult  and  seemingly  impossible  as  the  fulfillment 
of  this  great  life  appears  to  the  poor  human  soul,  it  is 
the  one  life  which  is  holy,  true  and  full  of  love.  Its 
gloriousness  must  be  fulfilled  and  all  our  interests  must 
be  concentrated  on  this  holy  aim.  Shirking  or  delaying 
of  holy  achievements  is  ignominious;  moreover,  it  is 


152_ VIRTUES 

followed  by  constantly  increasing  danger,  making  the 
final  efforts  harder  and  more  perplexing. 

Time  is  not  given  for  squandering  our  spiritual 
forces  for  the  sake  of  selfish  satiation,  but  for  the  strict 
account  of  our  duties  to  God  and  man.  Otherwise, 
time  as  such  would  have  no  worthy  purpose  of  exist¬ 
ence.  Only  unimportant  men  take  time  lightly;  only 
those  who  render  services  neither  to  God  nor  humanity, 
and  those  who  believe  that  time  is  their  own  personal 
property.  Yet,  when  the  hour  of  responsibility  strikes, 
it  is  for  time  they  always  beg. 

If  little  duties  are  so  intimately  involved  in  time, 
how  much  more  important  it  ought  to  be  to  each  man 
to  take  time  into  serious  consideration  in  respect  to 
his  glorious  destiny.  Time  is  the  natural  flux  of  immor¬ 
tality  in  which  each  soul  manifests  its  temporal  worthi¬ 
ness  or  unworthiness.  It  is  the  natural  recorder  of  all 
our  deeds  for  the  sake  of  immortal  values,  and  not  a 
contradiction  nor  the  opponent  of  Divine  eternity. 
Time  follows  eternity  as  all  natural  laws  and  forces 
follow  the  creative  motive  of  God’s  eternal  Life. 

The  whole  motive  of  God  in  H  is  adorable  creation 
is  divine  following,  which  means,  the  participation  in, 
cooperation  with  and  affirmation  of  God’s  holiest  life. 
This  Divine  motive  is  the  destiny  of  our  life.  It  is 
heaven  with  its  inexhaustible  treasures  of  glory,  power 
and  beatitude,  awaiting  each  one  who  wants  to  return 
to  divine  childship,  to  the  state  of  consummate  imita- 


BLISSFULNESS 


153 


tion  and  affirmation  of  the  Life  of  our  holiest  Father. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  characters  of  the  virtue  of 
blissfulness  that  we  may  have  a  broader  understanding 
of  its  essence.  The  characters  of  the  virtue  of  blissful¬ 
ness  are:  Security  in  Cod ,  peace  in  Cod  and  joy  in 
Cod. 


SECURITY  IN  GOD 


The  ground  of  security  in  God  is  the  divine  affinity 
of  the  soul  to  God,  the  sanctuary  of  unassailable  God- 
imparted  dignity  and  power.  Its  concomitant  faith  in, 
devotion  to  and  gratitude  for  this  dignity  constitutes  the 
inward  center  of  the  virtuous  will  and  its  immortal 
stronghold  of  holy  right. 

There  is  no  holy  right  without  the  holy  ground  of 
Divine  Life,  for  right  pertains  only  to  the  freedom 
of  such  motives  as  insure  holy  achievements.  For  this 
reason  unholy  deeds  are  forbidden  and  condemned. 
Rightful  is  only  what  is  holy,  true  and  lovable.  Thus 
rightfulness  is  the  freedom  of  fulfilling  the  motives  of 
all  worthy  deeds. 

This  right  to  holy  freedom  constitutes  our  security 
in  God.  Wherever  this  holy  right  is  not  strictly  fol¬ 
lowed,  the  ground  of  our  very  existence  becomes  un¬ 
certain,  our  thoughts  become  distracted  and  our  heart 
becomes  restless.  In  consequence  of  this  deflection  the 
soul  becomes  more  intense  in  its  feeling  for  itself  and 
takes  hold  of  any  minor,  less  worthy  object  than  the 
one  for  which  it  is  predestined.  Thus,  whenever  this 
holy  right  is  abused  and  violated,  laws  of  men  crumble 
and  human  order  is  threatened. 

154 


SECURITY  IN  GOD 


155 


Security  in  God  is  our  sole  stronghold  and  refuge. 
Not  possessing  absolute  might  in  itself,  the  soul  cannot 
rely  on  anything  except  the  might  of  God.  In  our 
combats,  disappointments  and  grief  we  are  longing  for 
the  object  of  supreme  trust,  that  trust  which  gives  us 
courage  and  hope  for  regaining  inward  assurance  of 
the  imperishable  value  of  our  life. 

This  assurance  is  conditioned  by  the  correspondence 
of  our  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  will  with  con¬ 
science.  If  our  faith  in  God  is  strong,  our  security  in 
God  is  also  strong.  Then  the  vicissitudes  of  life  are 
easily  controlled  and  employed  for  our  virtuous  growth 
and  the  benefit  of  others. 

In  our  sinful  world  none  can  attain  security  in  God 
without  great  inward  battle,  which  is  the  battle  of 
implicit  faith  in  God  and  His  holy  order  of  life  with 
the  faithlessness  of  man  and  his  unholy  disorder  and 
habits.  Living  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  of  human 
passions,  it  requires  a  truly  virtuous  determination  to 
brave  their  evolutions  and  revolutions.  Passions  are 
so  deeply  embedded  in  the  human  heart  that  only  few 
are  strong  enough  to  withstand  their  deceiving  lure. 

From  the  ground  of  implicit  faith  in  God  alone  can 
our  spiritual  victory,  and  with  this  victory  our  immortal 
security,  be  attained.  The  real  battlefield  is  the  spiritual 
battlefield,  where  each  one  battles  within  himself  and 
in  himself  proves  his  heroism  or  cowardice.  Every 
human  being  knows  this  inward  battlefield,  but  only 


156 


VIRTUES 


few  are  brave  enough  to  meet  face  to  face  with  con¬ 
science  and,  cost  what  it  will,  choose  the  highest  alter¬ 
native. 

None  but  the  virtuous  soul  experiences  the  heavenly 
elation  of  inward  security,  for  to  him  virtue  is  the 
power  of  worthiness,  of  holy  light,  wisdom,  genuine¬ 
ness,  sacrifice,  righteousness,  supreme  goodness  and 
transcendent  beauty. 

In  every  effort,  trial  and  tribulation  the  ascending 
soul  takes  refuge  in  this  eternal  stronghold,  prays  for 
its  nearness  and  reaches  out  its  arms  to  it  like  a  trustful 
child  to  its  mother.  The  strongest  as  well  as  the 
weakest  need  this  holy  refuge,  the  virtuous  to  avoid 
temptation  and  confusion  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties,  and  the  unvirtuous  to  be  saved  from  affliction 
and  distress. 

The  concomitant  of  security  is  fearlessness.  The 
humble  soul  has  no  fear,  except  the  fear  of  offending 
the  Majesty  of  God.  He  is  unswerving  in  his  virtuous 
attempts,  efforts  and  undertakings,  and  no  human  influ¬ 
ence  sways  his  virtuous  determinations.  Slander,  per¬ 
secution,  and  even  satanic  cruelty  are  of  no  avail. 
Fearlessness  in  virtue  survives  the  inflicted  wrong, 
crowns  and  blesses  the  victim,  and  in  the  record  of 
human  conscience  and  honor,  condemns  the  ungodly 
and  cowardly  deed  of  the  persecutor. 

Not  only  in  outwardly  heroic  instances  does  the 
virtuous  soul  manifest  fearlessness.  Less  striking  but 


157 


_ SECURITY  IN  GOD 

more  persistent  is  his  disregard  of  fear  in  his  unobtrusive 
life.  Unless  he  is  acknowledged  by  religious  associ¬ 
ations  which,  however,  are  not  always  appreciative  of 
the  virtuous,  he  is  unknown  in  the  midst  of  men.  Even 
parents,  relatives  and  benevolent  friends,  know  him 
little  or  not  at  all.  No  one  but  his  spiritual  equal  knows 
the  extent  of  his  inward  determinations,  and  when  he 
makes  mention  of  them,  he  is  understood  but  dimly. 

Being  different  from  others,  he  is  often  suspected, 
distrusted,  sometimes  even  ridiculed  or  hated,  but  sel¬ 
dom  loved.  He  keeps  aloof  from  the  common  passions 
of  the  world,  whose  display  pains  him  and  whose 
motives  horrify  him.  That  humanity  is  not  easily  cor¬ 
rigible,  he  knows  only  too  well.  If  he  gives  a  word 
of  courage,  of  inward  explanation  or  of  sympathy,  he 
is  sometimes  appreciated.  But  if  he  utters  a  word  of 
righteous  remonstrance  he  provokes  aversion  and  fear. 

Living  in  the  realm  of  his  great  conscience  with  God 
he  is  far  from  the  common  life  of  this  world.  His 
intellect  may  be  distantly  admired  but  it  gives  little  satis¬ 
faction,  because  it  avoids  intellectual  ostentation  or 
affected  brightness.  His  conduct  is  earnest,  modest, 
calm  and  thoughtful.  His  serious  words  do  not  appeal 
to  the  fancy  of  human  vanities.  They  touch  the  con¬ 
science  and  strike  the  character.  This  is  precisely  the 
spark  of  the  soul,  although  a  dim  spark  in  the  average 
soul  it  is,  which  human  haughtiness  forbids  to  be 
touched  or  stirred. 


158 


VIRTUES 


The  heart  of  the  virtuous  is  filled  with  love  for  man¬ 
kind,  but  men  do  not  want  the  love  of  a  virtuous  heart. 

1  hey  want  an  exclusive  heart,  only  for  themselves, 
for  their  own  use,  and  for  nothing  else.  They  do  not 
believe  in  pure  unselfish  love.  They  long  only  for 
personal  returns,  regardless  of  how  dishonorable  the 
motive  may  be.  Thus  the  virtuous  soul  often  passes 
through  this  land  of  strangers  with  profound  compas¬ 
sion  for  his  fellow  beings,  and  with  constant  longing 
for  association  with  great  souls  that  live  in  the  nearness 
to  God. 

This  profound  longing  for  the  great  future  life  is 
little  understood  by  those  who  do  not  realize  that  the 
virtuous  soul  has  a  much  profounder  sense  of  sociability 
than  the  unvirtuous.  His  life  is  filled  with  the  willing¬ 
ness  for  spiritual  communication  and  service.  No  won¬ 
der  that,  amidst  the  flux  of  human  frivolities  and  the 
hum  of  selfishness,  he  does  not  feel  at  home.  Thus 
his  frequent  solitude  appears  misanthropic,  while, 
actually,  he  only  avoids  the  depressing  atmosphere  of 
passions,  in  order  to  hold  himself  secure  from  any  loss 
of  the  purity  and  beauty  of  his  virtuous  sentiments. 

The  virtuous  soul,  except  for  the  sake  of  mission, 
wants  no  strangers  near  him;  he  wants  friends.  He 
looks  for  a  friend  in  every  soul  he  meets,  for  his  heart 
is  always  full  of  sublimest  friendship.  It  cannot  bear 
another  life  except  that  of  friendship,  the  sole  secure 
contact  and  life  of  all  great  souls.  Are  we  then  justi- 


_ SECURITY  IN  GOD  _ 1 5 9 

fled  in  wondering  why  the  virtuous  soul  so  constantly 
longs  for  the  great  life  beyond? 

Great  souls  are  invariably  great  friends.  Their  ties 
of  esteem,  appreciation  and  love  are  founded  on  the 
love  of  God,  the  one  beatifying  security  of  immortal 
friendship.  Angels  are  intimate  friends,  for  the  Love 
of  God  is  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the  consum¬ 
mate  beatification  of  the  soul,  both  with  God  and  sanc¬ 
tified  souls.  Hence  the  distant  feeling  of  immortal 
happiness  in  our  more  friendly  relations. 

The  following  of  God  demands  allegiance  to  every¬ 
thing  virtuous.  Each  soul  must  be  virtue  personified, 
because  virtue  is  the  real  subsistence  of  each  worthy 
personality.  The  failure  to  cleave  to  this  holy  sub¬ 
sistence  makes  our  souls  so  small  in  their  motives  and 
so  insignificant  in  their  deeds.  The  unrestrained  motive 
to  be  virtuous  is  the  sole  motive  capable  of  eliciting 
beatifying  security  and  the  power  of  realizing  gre?t 
deeds. 


PEACE  IN  GOD 


As  the  soul’s  affinity  to  God  is  the  real  source  of 
our  security  in  God,  thus  the  soul’s  affiliation  with  God 
is  the  real  source  of  its  peace  in  God.  When  these 
transcendent  conditions  of  spiritual  life  are  not  present 
in  our  inwardness,  our  volition  is  inconstant  and  weak, 
our  self-consciousness  dim,  and  our  self-sentiency  oscil¬ 
lating.  Whatever  is  not  directly  connected  with  the 
absolute  principle  of  life  must,  by  force  of  this  incon¬ 
sistency,  face  hazard,  with  all  its  irretrievable  disorder 
and  disquietude. 

Peace  in  God  is  virtuous  power  imparted  to  those 
who  guard  their  affiliation  with  God  with  the  most 
intense  solicitude  of  their  wills.  Here  the  guarding 
of  our  conscience,  as  the  superspiritual  and  formal 
guide  of  our  actions,  becomes  so  powerful  that  unre¬ 
strained  devotion  to  conscience  is  its  constant  demand. 
As  the  spirit  of  security  demands  faith  in  God,  thus 
the  spirit  of  peace  demands  devotion  to  God.  There 
is  no  inward  peace  in  any  human  action,  unless  our 
whole  devotion  is  concentrated  on  a  holy  cause.  Then 
holy  peace  becomes  one  of  the  most  powerful  factors 
in  great  achievements.  Its  power  of  inward  assurance 

160 


161 


PEACE  IN  GOD 

imparts  invincibility  and  its  power  of  inward  devotion 
imparts  beatitude. 

Holy  peace  is  the  might  of  divine  harmony  and 
the  heavenly  fruit  of  virtuous  determinations.  “//  is 
well  done'  are  the  words  of  its  calm  spirit  which,  like 
a  celestial  balm,  soothes  the  strain  of  virtuous  exertion. 
Peace  is  the  eternal  healer  of  all  strife  and  the  com¬ 
forter  of  the  righteous  in  all  his  struggles.  Its  might 
is  unobtrusive  and  constant;  it  simply  follows  each 
virtue,  as  a  holy  fragrance  follows  a  heavenly  flower. 

The  spirit  of  peace  is  the  most  effective  spirit  of 
order.  It  installs  and  sustains  the  needed  harmony 
which  blesses  our  life.  Each  virtuous  institution  is 
built,  ruled  and  managed  in  order  to  enhance  peace. 
This  is  the  exclusive  mark  of  its  divine  distinction.  In 
heavenly  abodes  peace  reigns  supreme.  Indeed,  its 
infinite  and  magnificent  harmony  passes  human  under¬ 
standing. 

The  passionate  soul  cannot  conceive  the  achieve¬ 
ments  of  great  deeds  without  the  roar  of  cannon,  and 
the  spirit  of  strife  or  carnage.  The  peaceful  soul 
looks  for  strength  in  virtue  as  the  sole  source  of  real 
and  lasting  might.  It  is  ever  ready  to  suffer  and  to 
die,  but  not  to  cause  suffering  and  death  to  others. 
The  fruit  of  victory,  through  unjust  death,  is  sublime 
to  the  virtuous.  To  the  wicked,  however,  who  cannot 
be  brought  to  peace  save  by  suffering  or  horror,  death 
is  depressing  and  appalling. 


162 


VIRTUES 


Peace  is  the  absolute  requisite  of  permanent  under¬ 
standing.  Thoughts  in  their  very  essence  are  peaceful, 
and  only  the  explosive  passions  of  the  heart  displace 
them  from  their  basic  conscience  and  scatter  them  into 
incoherence.  Peace  brings  understanding  of  oneself 
and  of  one  another.  No  thinker,  of  whatever  branch, 
can  rightly  construe  his  thoughts  unless  he  is  at  peace. 

Furthermore,  a  peaceful  word  sinks  deeper  than 
oratory.  There  is  solemnity  in  everything  peaceful, 
for  it  is  the  breath  of  virtue.  Peaceful  compositions 
in  poetry,  music  and  art  bring  relief  to  mind  and  heart 
and  implant  assuaging  recollections,  with  the  concomi¬ 
tant  sense  into  our  inwardness  that  we  should  be  the 
children  of  peace. 

The  Voice  of  God  is  not  loud.  It  is  so  peaceful 
that  often  it  is  hardly  perceptible.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  the  mightiest  Voice  that  speaks.  The  profound 
sense  of  duty  is  full  of  peace,  or,  it  demands  peace; 
for  even  in  its  urging  and  animation  it  immediately 
installs  peace.  Inspiration,  even  in  the  midst  of 
vehement  feeling  and  suffering,  is  always  peaceful. 

Nothing  but  the  weakness  of  human  will  feels  the 
burden  of  inward  labor.  The  virtuous  one  rejoices 
in  it  and  for  this  he  is  blessed  with  inward  peace.  It 
is  needless  to  mention  the  obvious  difference  between 
peacefulness  and  indolence.  It  is  enough  to  see  the 
peaceful  attitude  of  the  virtuous  soul,  where  the  power 
of  will,  intellect  and  sentiment  are  expressed  in  admir- 


PEACE  IN  GOD 


163 


able  harmony,  and  compare  him  with  the  passionate 
man,  destitute  of  fortitude  and  of  every  spiritual 
attainment  and  refinement. 

Only  souls  that  profoundly  feel  their  holy  affinity 
to  God,  that  profoundly  desire  to  affiliate  with  and 
follow  the  holiest  Life  of  God,  whose  humility  is  con¬ 
summate  through  supreme  faith  in  God,  whose 
devoutness  permeates  all  their  forces  and  whose 
gratitude  thrills  their  deepest  inwardness,  are  blessed 
with  peace  everlasting. 

In  our  upward  course  peace  is  our  inward  longing, 
but  this  longing  cannot  be  appeased  unless  we  under¬ 
take  and  pursue  the  path  of  virtue,  a  path  so  narrow, 
steep  and  difficult.  It  takes  all  the  courage  we  possess, 
and  all  that  we  obtain  by  prayer,  to  move  upward 
on  this  ascending  path. 

EHut  it  is  worth  all  our  effort,  for  inward  peace  is 
the  divine  manifestation  of  God’s  own  state  of  Super- 
existence  and  Eternity.  Only  consummate  virtues  can 
live  there,  and  to  attain  them  is  the  irremovable  task 
of  each  soul  which,  as  yet,  is  not  living  in  the  majestic 
presence  of  God. 

Our  divine  childship  must  not  only  be  recovered 
and  reaffirmed,  but  it  must  also  be  resplendent  with 
the  intensest  animation  of  the  Divine  Superspirit,  and 
then  divine  peace  shall  be  ours.  For  this  peace  is 
the  peace  of  eternal  glory,  truth  and  love  in  God, 
the  final  aim  of  our  life.  Every  delay  in  fulfilling  this 


164 


VIRTUES 


holy  purpose  is  worse  than  fruitless  and  every  shirking 
is  debasing.  If  we  do  not  progress  onward  of  our 
own  free  will,  the  fire  and  sword  of  our  passions  will 
drive  us  with  their  inherent  ruthlessness  to  the  recol¬ 
lection  that  we  are  the  children  of  our  Heavenly 
Father,  Who  patiently  awaits  our  return  into  the  eternal 
abodes  of  His  glorious  peace. 

Humility,  the  inward  state  of  our  divine  childship, 
is  the  ground  of  peace.  There  is  no  lasting  peace 
without  it.  Faith  is  the  heavenly  support  of  inward 
peace,  and  devotion  and  gratitude  its  heavenly  delight. 
Fortitude  unfolds  peace  in  all  its  implications  and  appli¬ 
cations,  and  even  if  it  strikes  with  awe  and  remorse, 
these  strokes  of  conscience  are  soon  transformed  into 
peace.  And  beatitude  is  the  crown  of  eternal  peace. 

Each  soul  rightly  feels  that  it  must  have  peace,  but 
it  cannot  attain  it  except  as  a  result  of  the  virtuous 
efforts  for  which  the  soul  is  created.  Glory,  worthi¬ 
ness  and  honor  constitute  the  goal  of  the  soul.  There 
is  no  peace  without  them.  Glory  is  as  ravishing  as 
it  is  peaceful,  and  therein  consists  its  beauty.  Only 
wickedness  is  noisy  and  hideous. 

It  is  the  lack  of  inward  worthiness  which  fans  dis¬ 
satisfaction  with  oneself  and  others.  But  the  fault 
lies  less  with  others  than  with  oneself;  for  the  virtuous 
man  is  not  afraid  that  he  will  be  disturbed  or  turned 
from  his  glorious  course.  By  reason  of  the  fact  that 


PEACE  IN  GOD 


165 


he  is  virtuous,  peace  holds  and  blesses  him  in  all  cir¬ 
cumstances. 

Virtues  are  not  boisterous.  The  might  of  peace 
is  manifested  in  all  their  expressions.  They  are  the 
life  of  heaven  and  on  their  standards  is  the  heavenly 
greeting,  “Peace  be  with  you.”  Peace  is  the  ingra¬ 
tiation  of  heaven,  the  meekness  of  the  virtuous  and 
the  promise  to  the  weak  and  the  sinner.  Because  of 
the  profundity  of  its  intimity  with  God,  humility  is 
the  most  peaceful  virtue  of  all  virtues.  It  is  so  peaceful 
that  it  is  the  most  sacredly  guarded  secret  of  the  soul’s 
life.  Even  fortitude,  the  power  of  animation,  never 
asserts  itself.  Secure  and  confident  of  its  right,  it  pro¬ 
ceeds  and  accomplishes  its  virtuous  acts.  Thus  bliss¬ 
fulness  imparts  security  and  peace  to  the  virtuous  soul 
and  fills  it  with  joy. 


JOY  IN  GOD 


The  final  character  of  blissfulness,  as  well  as  of 
the  inward  expression  of  humility  and  fortitude  is  joy 
in  God,  the  fruitive  state  of  those  who  follow  the 
Life  of  Divinity. 

The  participating  affinity  to,  the  cooperating  affilia¬ 
tion  with  and  the  affirming  imitation  of  Divine  Life 
fill  the  soul  with  that  heavenly  bliss  which  only  the 
might  of  Divine  eternity  can  impart. 

The  Life  of  God,  in  its  final  expression,  is  a  life 
of  eternal  blessing.  Divine  holiness  demands  blissful¬ 
ness,  Divine  perfection  expands  it  and  Divine  eternity 
upholds  it  as  the  supreme  attraction  of  virtuous  life. 
For  this  reason  all  profounder  souls  feel  this  eternal 
attraction  and  often  make  heroic  efforts  to  reach  this 
holy  state.  Also  for  this  reason  each  unvirtuous  soul 
is  restless;  because,  constantly  searching  for  blissful¬ 
ness,  it  seizes  every  opportunity  to  grasp  a  happy 
moment,  permissible  or  unpermissible,  in  order  to  obtain 
some  tangible  fruition  of  life. 

Each  soul  is  hungry  for  the  joy  of  life.  This  joy 
is  caused  by  the  continually  attracting  and  inviting 
blissfulness  of  the  Divine  state  which  pulsates  in  the 
inwardness  of  each  heart.  The  Divine  state  is  the 

166 


JOY  IN  GOD 


167 


living  prototype  of  life  and  requires  holy  willingness 
and  knowledge  to  attain  it.  And  no  holy  fruition  of 
life  can  be  attained  without  the  willingness  for  and 
knowledge  of  the  holy  life.  Thus,  even  in  the  last 
expressions  of  virtuous  life,  which  are  always  the  most 
tangible,  most  visible  and  most  adored  expressions  by 
man,  the  self-conscious  will,  in  order  to  be  self-sentient 
of  its  worthy  state,  must  be  fully  active. 

As  all  effects  of  life  are  conditioned  by  processes 
and  principles  of  life,  thus  Joy  in  God  is  conditioned 
by  security  and  peace  in  God  which  again  are  condi¬ 
tioned  by  holy  fortitude  and  humility,  the  living  source 
of  all  blissfulness.  How  is  it'p°ssible  to  have  security 
and  power  without  holy  faith  and  fidelity?  How  is 
it  possible  to  have  peace  and  the  strength  of  perse¬ 
verance  without  inmost  devotion?  And  how  is  it  pos¬ 
sible  to  attain  immortal  joy  and  the  triumph  over  the 
evil  without  profound  gratitude? 

Each  soul  has  in  its  conscience  distinct  perceptions 
and  sensations  of  these  holy  conditions,  but  the  weight 
and  darkness  of  its  passions  prevents  a  clear  concept 
of  and  a  living  sentiment  for  these  conditions.  Inco¬ 
ordinate  with  and  recalcitrant  as  the  soul  is  to  its 
glorious  destiny,  it  strives  for  less  conditioned  or  even 
unconditioned  pleasures  in  order  to  fill  temporarily  the 
ever-longing  gap  of  immortal  beatitude. 

Immortal  beatitude  is  the  most  inward  longing  of 


168 


VIRTUES 


each  soul  and  regardless  how  much  or  how  little 
one  is  disposed  to  believe  in  immortality,  this  longing 
is  in  him.  No  life  is  satisfied  until  it  bears  the  fruit 
of  its  life.  And  the  fruit  of  spirituality  can  be  no 
other  than  the  consummate  fruition  of  the  eternal 
source  and  might  from  which  spiritual  life  derives. 

Immortal  beatitude  is  joy  in  God,  the  joy  of  our 
divine  affinity,  the  joy  of  the  dignity  of  affiliation  with 
God  and  of  the  immortal  power  of  imitating  His 
holiest  Life.  It  is  the  state  of  consummate  divine 
childship,  the  state  of  eternal  blissfulness  and  blessing, 
the  crowning  wreath  of  a  sanctified  hero  and  the  holy 
fruition  of  supreme  innocence.  Thus  joy  in  God  is 
the  heavenly  stream  of  Divine  love,  repleting  the 
deepest  recesses  of  our  spirituality. 

Moreover,  holy  joy  is  the  most  inward  gratification 
of  Divine  love,  the  most  blissful  and  triumphant  bond 
of  mutual  gratefulness  between  God  and  His  sanctified 
child,  and,  consequently,  the  beatification  of  personal 
worthiness  and  of  sacrificial  might  of  holy  love. 

This  holy  delight  in  each  virtuous  deed,  thought  and 
sentiment  is  the  eternal  reward  and  fruition  of  the 
divinely  humble  and  faithful.  For  this  reason  each 
virtue  bears  and  carries  the  full  measure  of  bliss, 
rewarding  each  holy  aspiration,  effort  and  achievement. 
Faith  in  God  bestows  beatifying  security;  piety,  beati¬ 
fying  peace;  gratitude,  beatifying  joy;  the  vision  of 


169 


 JOY  IN  GOD 

God,  beatifying  light;  and  the  love  of  God,  the  spirit 
of  eternal  felicity. 

Joy  in  God  is  the  consummation  of  spiritual  rapture 
and  ecstasy.  There  is  nothing  in  our  poor  human  life 
to  give  an  approximate  illustration  of  it.  But  the 
highly  virtuous  soul  possesses  distinct  visions  and  the 
absolute  assurance  of  the  grandeur  of  heavenly  life. 
From  this  eternal  treasure-house  of  bliss  and  blessing 
flow  the  great  gifts  of  God,  the  riches  of  heavenly 
compensation,  bestowed  on  all  those  who  prove  to  be 
•the  great  heroes  of  virtuous  attainment,  the  true  sons 
of  God. 

H  eaven  is  the  highest  community  of  saints,  for  only 
there  exists  the  consummate  communion  with  God. 
Our  little  religious  congregations,  whether  those  with 
thousands  or  millions  of  adherents,  are  but  a  remote 
and  imperfect  reflex  of  this  heavenly  communion. 
There  the  joy  in  God  is  the  pulsation  of  life,  and  here 
only  a  serious  promise. 

All  virtues  pertain  mainly  to  the  will,  and  particu¬ 
larly  those  described  in  the  preceding  pages.  Humility , 
with  its  characters  of  faith,  piety  and  gratitude,  per¬ 
tains  mainly  to  the  self-conscious  and  self-sentient 
motor  of  the  will.  Fortitude ,  with  its  characters  of 
virtuous  energy,  perseverance  and  triumph  over  evil, 
constitutes  the  course  of  virtuous  volition,  and  intrinsi¬ 
cally  relates  to  the  self-conscious  movement  and  free- 


170 


VIRTUES 


dom  of  the  will.  Blissfulness ,  with  its  characters  of 
security,  peace  and  joy  in  God,  constitutes  the  unfold- 
ment  of  virtuous  attainments  which  relate  to  the  self- 
sentient  motive  of  the  will.  Thus  we  see  the  evident 
consistency  of  the  forms  of  the  will  with  the  virtues 
and  Divine  commandments  for  the  will. 


VIRTUES  OF  THE  MIND 


Self-consciousness  of  the  will  is  the  principle  of 
mental  consciousness,  for  the  activity  of  the  soul  does 
not  depend  on  mere  consciousness  of  outward  facts, 
but  on  the  standpoint  of  the  motive  of  the  self-conscious 
will  relatively  to  action.  Consciousness  is  only  a  men¬ 
tal  process  of  the  ever-active,  self-conscious  will. 
Therefore,  mental  virtues  are  precisely  in  the  same 
relation  to  the  virtues  of  the  will  as  consciousness  is 
to  the  self-consciousness. 

Each  virtue  of  the  will  permeates  and  controls  the 
mental  forces  and  forms  of  the  soul  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  will  permeates  and  controls  the  whole  mental 
process.  Mentality  only  follows  the  will  in  all  its 
movements  and  motives.  This  mental  following  is  as 
formal  as  the  will  is  formal  in  itself.  Otherwise,  there 
would  be  an  essential  conflict  between  the  will  and 
the  mind,  which  does  not  exist.  What  we  generally 
call  conflict  of  the  will  or  sentiment  with  the  mind  is 
in  reality  the  conflict  of  our  self-conscious  and  self- 
sentient  will  with  conscience.  There  are  no  psychic 
conflicts  in  the  soul  as  such.  There  are  only  religious 
and  moral  conflicts  in  us. 

171 


172 


VIRTUES 


The  soul  is,  so  to  speak,  a  perfect  spiritual  mech¬ 
anism.  It  can  think  and  feel  what  and  whenever  it 
wills.  But  it  cannot  attain  and  possess  anything  justly 
unless  the  superspintual  conditions  of  worthiness  and 
value,  the  conditions  of  conscience,  are  accepted  and 
fulfilled. 

These  conditions  of  conscience  are  virtues,  the 
formal  Superspirit  of  God,  dwelling  under  each  par¬ 
ticular  force  and  form  of  our  spiritual  structure  in 
order  to  give  us  the  power  of  dignity,  light  and  love 
for  the  realization  of  worthy  life. 

The  conditions  of  worthiness  are  explained  in  the 
foregoing  chapters.  Now  let  us  consider  how  these 
principal  virtues  develop  in  our  mentality  and  how 
this  development  attains  a  virtuous  state. 

The  virtuous  state  of  the  mind  pertains  to  three 
characteristically  mental  virtues,  to  the  mental  tendency 
to  God,  to  wisdom  and  simplicity. 


MENTAL  TENDENCY  TO  GOD 


The  profoundest  undercurrent  of  the  mind  is  the 
unrestrained  tendency  toward  the  knowledge  of  God. 
This  tendency,  however,  is  not  a  tendency  of  a  mere 
abstract  mmd,  as  the  idealistic  schools  of  philosophy 
presume,  but  an  inward  tendency  of  the  self-conscious 
will  through  consciousness. 

Consciousness  is  the  vision  of  all  outward  life,  while 
self  -consciousness  is  that  of  inward  life.  The  outward 
life  has  interest  for  us  only  in  so  much  as  this  interest 
corresponds  with  our  inward  life,  which  means,  with 
the  personal  position  of  our  spiritual  ego  relatively  to 
the  intrinsic  worthiness  of  the  manifestations  of  life. 
All  observations  of  life  in  general,  of  all  its  universal 
laws  and  phenomena  have  only  this  reason  and  this 
aim.  Knowledge  without  its  application  to  worthy 
action  is  unavailable.  The  variations  of  this  applica¬ 
tion  correspond  with  the  degrees  of  human  intelligence, 
or,  more  precisely,  with  the  elevation,  mediocrity  or 
debasement  of  the  human  conscience. 

From  the  primitive  fetichism  and  polytheism  to  the 
loftier  visions  of  Hinduism,  Parseeism,  Confucianism, 
Platonism  and  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  with 
their  various  interpretations,  the  mental  tendency 

173 


174 


VIRTUES 


moves  toward  the  religious  elucidation  of  God  and 
of  our  relation  to  Him. 

The  naturalistic  bent  of  the  human  intellect 
endeavors  to  attain  the  same  thing,  however,  with  less 
or  no  regard  for  personal  obligation  toward  the  abso¬ 
lute  principle  of  life.  The  divinity  the  naturalist  is 
searching  for  is  presupposed  to  be  an  impersonal  sub¬ 
stance,  energy,  biological  ground,  or  law,  or  some  other 
indefinite  creative  force  and  evolution.  In  other  words, 
it  is  an  “unknowable”  or  “unconscious”  something 
that  is  capable  of  causing  knowable  and  conscious 
beings;  a  logical  contradiction  which  the  naturalist 
does  not  notice. 

Though  it  is  evident  that  both  the  religious  and 
naturalistic  tendencies  are  under  the  influence  of  the 
monistic  principle  of  logic,  their  aim  of  vision  differs 
radically.  The  religious  tendency  is  an  inherent  move¬ 
ment  of  conscience,  while  the  naturalistic  tendency  is 
a  movement  of  an  abstract  mind  without  conscience. 

Since  conscience  is  undeniable,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  a  very  sensitive  factor,  the  naturalist  endeavors 
to  append  it  as  a  sort  of  moral  sense  to  the  mind  and 
concurs  with  the  opinion  of  scholastic  philosophers  that 
conscience  is  a  mental  faculty  which  discriminates 
between  right  and  wrong.  With  this  superficial  and 
perverted  explanation,  conscience  is  disposed  of  as  the 
real  might  of  the  soul,  and,  consequently,  the  objective 


MENTAL  TENDENCY  TO  GOD 


175 


and  formal  might  of  conscience  is  ignored  both  by 
the  orthodox  and  the  atheist. 

After  this  initiatory  statement  of  the  present  theo¬ 
logical  and  philosophical  difficulty  pertaining  to  the 
mental  tendency  to  God,  let  us  now  consider  its  three 
implicit  characters:  the  adherence  to  Divine  Light, 
attention  to  the  Voice  of  Cod  and  cleaving  to  Con¬ 


science. 


ADHERENCE  TO  DIVINE  LIGHT 


The  transcendent  fact  that  God  is  the  absolute  prin¬ 
ciple  of  truth  and  of  the  consequent  source  of  the 
soul’s  mental  equipment  to  truth  predicates  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  adherence  to  Divine  Light  as  the  prime  condi¬ 
tion  of  both  objective  and  subjective  cognoscibility. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  our  mental  activity  we 
notice  two  factors,  the  perceiving  faculty  of  our  con¬ 
sciousness  and  the  object  perceived  by  it. 

During  the  act  of  the  perceiving  and  conceiving 
consciousness  we  notice  the  inward  pressure  toward 
the  absolutely  truthful  cognition  of  the  object,  which 
proves  the  inherent  mental  tendency  to  divine  light 
in  our  mind.  The  unreserved  adherence  to  this  Divine 
light  is  the  first  character  of  the  virtue  of  this  mental 
tendency. 

The  soul’s  affinity  to  God  commands  this  holy 
adherence  as  the  one  source  of  the  inward  knowledge 
of  God  and  our  participation  in  His  holiest  Life.  The 
soul’s  affiliation  with  God  demands  this  holy  adherence, 
as  the  supreme  condition  of  understanding  the  perfect 
ways  of  God,  in  order  to  insure  our  relatively  perfect 
cooperation  with  His  holiest  Life.  The  soul’s  imitation 
of  God  affirms  this  holy  adherence,  for,  by  virtue  of 

176 


ADHERENCE  TO  DIVINE  LIGHT 


177 


this  affirmation,  the  mutual  affirmation  of  God  and 
the  soul  is  accomplished  and  our  divine  childship 
established  and  proved. 

Thus,  to  the  virtuous  soul,  adherence  to  Divine  light 
is  the  focus  of  mental  lucidity  and  the  source  of  infal¬ 
lible  intelligibility.  The  eternal  rays  of  Divine  Truth, 
deriving  from  the  Divine  Attributes,  cast  their  light 
on  the  soul’s  intellect  and  cause  it  to  see  not  only 
the  surrounding  light  of  all  things,  but  also  of  its  own 
essence.  Th  en  the  whole  creation  is  the  surrounding 
light,  and  the  vision  of  the  soul’s  essence  the  inward 
light,  defining  the  soul’s  origin,  dignity,  power  and 
obligation.  The  humble  soul  embraces  this  inward 
light  with  all  his  power,  because  it  makes  clear  to  him 
his  creational  position  of  divine  childship,  because  it 
gives  him  the  power  of  highest  understanding,  and 
because  it  enables  him  to  realize  his  life  in  truth. 

The  standpoint  of  his  mental  visions  is  the  Light  of 
God.  Everything  he  sees  is  conceived  from  this  eternal 
apex  of  view,  which  towers  above  all  other  visions. 
It  is  the  standpoint  of  the  seraphim  who  sees  without 
shadow  and  without  disconnection.  As  the  Light  of 
God  streams  from  His  ineffable  Holiness  to  replete 
everything  that  voluntarily  adheres  to  Divine  grandeurs, 
thus  all  the  powers  of  vision  of  the  virtuous  soul  are 
broadly  open  to  receive  enlightening  rays  of  God’s 
Holiness. 

Adherence  to  Divine  Light  extends  the  power  of 


178 


VIRTUES 


mind  to  the  sublimest  capacity.  Not  only  does  it 
permit  but  it  impels  the  soul  to  conceive  each  object 
in  its  profoundest  worth  and  order.  The  Light  of  God 
is  the  definable  might  of  absoluteness  and,  conse¬ 
quently,  the  profoundest  criterion  of  all  thoughts.  God 
is  the  absolute  definer  of  truth,  therefore  all  other 
standards  of  human  visions  lack  truthful  authority  and 
constancy;  they  shift  according  to  the  vacillating  moods 
of  human  sentiments. 

Through  Divine  Light  the  dominion  of  Holiness, 
Truth  and  Love  is  revealed,  and,  by  virtue  of  this 
revelation,  the  total  creation  is  seen  in  the  state  of  holy 
relation  to  and  dependence  from  God.  In  this  holy 
relation  Divine  Light  demands  the  positive  knowledge 
of  all  our  spiritual  contacts,  which  is  an  obvious  demand 
of  the  eternal  might  of  Divine  Truth.  This  is  the 
answer  to  the  subjectivistic  crux  of  logic  which,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  conscience  as  the  ground  and  criterion, 
is  always  blind  to  the  objective  might  of  Divine  Light. 

Logic,  in  its  essence,  has  objective  power  and,  conse¬ 
quently,  constitutes  a  concrete  and  real  science  and 
not  a  mere  abstract  rule  of  a  subjectivistically  entangled 
mind.  Though  logic  chiefly  involves  the  mind,  it  also 
affects  the  will  and  the  heart.  The  will  must  endeavor 
and  sentiments  must  desire  to  be  consistent  and  logical, 
in  order  that  we  may  see  and  feel  the  great  importance 
and  necessity  of  applying  mental  categories  to  all  our 
judgments.  For  this  reason  the  humble  soul  searches 


ADHERENCE  TO  DIVINE  LIGHT 


179 


faithfully,  devoutly  and  gratefully  for  this  holy  light 
in  his  God-given  conscience,  that  he  find  its  blessing 
guidance. 

In  the  adherence  of  the  mind  to  Divine  Light,  all 
is  inspiring  brightness,  which  enlightens  humility  and 
assures  us  of  the  virtuous  distinctness  of  the  deeds  of 
love.  Deeds  of  pure  love,  of  immovable  righteousness 
and  all-moving  goodness,  are  permeated  and  surrounded 
by  the  holy  brilliance  of  Divine  Light.  All  virtues 
shine  with  perfect  order  and  enduring  lucidity  and 
each  virtue  unfolds  its  untarnished  lustre  of  heavenly 
splendor.  Thus  the  virtue  of  adherence  to  the  Light 
of  God  inspires  and  absorbs  the  intellect  of  the  faithful 
child  of  God. 

If  Divine  Truth  is  not  our  absolute  light,  then  there 
remains  but  one  alternative,  our  own  independently 
shifting  intellect.  This  is  precisely  the  subjectivistic 
viewpoint,  which  ultimately  means  that  everybody’s 
idea  may  be  right  or  wrong,  as  anyone  pleases.  This 
totally  unintelligent  and  unprincipled  standpoint 
endeavors  to  eliminate  objective  truth,  which  constitutes 
the  supreme  importance  and  the  sole  sense  of  truth. 

No!  Truth  is  not  a  subjective  property  of  the 
soul,  even  of  the  highest  souls  in  heaven,  but  the  eternal 
Light  of  God.  Truth  is  superessentially  holy,  and  the 
one  who  does  not  realize  this  obvious  fact  within  him¬ 
self  has  no  logical  right  to  enter  the  profound  field  of 
religion  and  philosophy.  Truth  is  not  a  toy  of  mtel- 


180 _ VIRTUES _ 

lectual  pleasures,  but  a  divine  object  of  love  and 
wonder. 

Truth  is  the  second  paramount  object  of  love,  the 
first  being  holiness,  and  the  one  who  has  not  the  great 
power  of  the  heart  to  love  truth  for  its  own  sake  is  in 
want  of  the  most  important  motive  and  ability  to  present 
it.  “It  is  not  everybody’s  matter  to  speak  of  religion,” 
rightly  observes  Schleiermacher.  And  yet  we  must 
not  wonder  that  so  many  serious  authors  have  failed 
in  their  attempts  to  bring  greater  light  on  this  ever- 
pressing  subject. 

The  tendency  to  Divine  Light  is  in  us;  it  is  inherent 
in  each  soul,  learned,  intelligent  or  uneducated.  But 
where  is  it  in  us?  Is  it  only  in  the  intellect?  The 
average  intellect  is  so  crowded  with  common,  trivial 
and  often  foolish  thoughts  that  there  seems  to  be 
hardly  any  room  for  such  serious  meditation.  Is  the 
sentiment  at  times  not  affected  and  the  will  not  moved 
by  the  tendency  to  Divine  Light?  Is  there  any  right¬ 
eous  and  serious  man  who  knows  nothing  or  wants 
to  know  nothing  of  God?  Where  is  the  contact-point 
of  this  tendency  in  the  soul?  In  conscience ,  for  it  is 
conscience  which  animates  and  inspires  the  will,  intel¬ 
lect  and  sentiment  to  see  the  Light  of  God.  But  it 
is  not  so  much  the  will,  intellect  and  sentiment  in  their 
activities,  as  the  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  motor 
of  the  will  in  its  inwardness  which  is  animated  by  con- 
And  it  is  only  our  inattention  to  this  inward- 


science. 


ADHERENCE  TO  DIVINE  LIGHT 


181 

ness  which  accounts  for  the  seeming  indistinctness  of 
this  holy  animation.  Where  conscience  is  not  held 
in  the  highest  esteem  and  love  there  is  no  vivid  per¬ 
ception  of  this  animation  and,  consequently,  no  spiritual 
awakening  and  progress  can  follow. 

Only  constant  solicitude  for  the  sublimest  conscience 
as  our  highest  treasure  of  life  makes  this  tendency  to 
Divine  Light  a  virtue.  Then  all  serious  questions  are 
not  only  answered,  but  all  the  questioned  objects  pre¬ 
sent  themselves  in  adorable  distinctness  and  harmony. 


ATTENTION  TO  THE  VOICE  OF  GOD 


Adherence  to  Divine  Light  is  the  beginning  of  the 
conscious  will  in  respect  to  holy  perceiving  and  sensing 
of  its  cooperative  affiliation  with  God.  We  may  call 
it  a  waking  conscience.  Attention  to  the  Voice  of 
God  is  the  inward  solicitude  of  the  faithful,  strong 
and  grateful  will  for  heeding  its  guiding  might. 

Be  the  scope  of  thinking  ever  so  great  or  ever  so 
little,  no  true  and  concrete  concept  is  attainable  without 
heeding  the  might  of  the  Voice  of  God,  for  at  the 
bottom  of  all  conceivableness  lies  conscience,  the  sole 
might  and  measure  of  estimation.  Were  we  deprived 
of  this  guiding  might,  our  life  would  end  in  chaos,  as 
is  proved  in  the  ever-recurring  confusion  whenever 
conscience  is  not  heeded  by  us. 

The  whole  power  of  truth  in  us  lies  in  the  power 
of  our  faithful,  strong  and  grateful  heeding  of  the 
Voice  of  God.  The  Voice  of  God  is  the  absolute 
demand  and  the  most  formal  and  formidable  law  of 
our  life.  All  other  laws  adhere  to  its  spirit  and, 
according  to  greater  or  less  adherence  to  its  super¬ 
spiritual  might,  attain  Divine  blessing. 

All  constructive  efforts  for  the  betterment  of  human 
reLtions,  whether  religious,  national  or  social,  issue 

182 


ATTENTION  TO  THE  VOICE  OF  GOD  183 


from  the  spirit  of  conscience,  and  all  human  misery  is 
wrought  by  the  criminal  disregard  of  this  holy  spirit. 

All  virtuous  initiatives  and  truthful  estimation  derive 
from  conscience.  Neither  the  metaphysician  nor  the 
physicist  is  able  to  construct  a  single  true  premise  or 
deduct  a  single  true  conclusion  without  conscience. 
The  obstinate  assertion  that  mental  labor  is  the  exclusive 
task  of  reason  is  one  of  the  many  mental  superficialities 
with  which  humanity  is  reduced  to  mental  and  senti¬ 
mental  confusion  and  inefficiency. 

Reason  is  only  subjective  spiritual  labor  capable  of 
presenting  objective  values.  Of  itself  it  has  no  objec¬ 
tive  power  and  it  does  not  and  cannot  give  values. 
Its  power  consists  in  reasoning  according  to  values. 
Were  it  not  for  conscience,  which  always  insists  on 
values,  reasoning  itself  would  be  impossible. 

To  reason  essentially  means  to  search  for  values, 
which  is  a  mere  subjective  process.  Where  there  are 
no  values  reason  loses  its  power  of  application;  there 
is  nothing  worthy  to  reason  about. 

Everything  lives  on  the  created  superspiritual,  spir¬ 
itual  and  natural  substances  of  which  consists  the  whole 
being. 

Since  superspirituahty  constitutes  the  dominating 
might  of  God,  as  clearly  seen  in  conscience,  the  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  Voice  of  God  must  be  the  dominating 
force  of  the  soul’s  reason. 

The  soul,  as  a  relative  being,  must  have  super- 


184 


VIRTUES 


spiritual  light  for  its  intellect  in  order  to  see  and  be 
able  to  prove  its  divine  destiny.  All  worthy  aspira¬ 
tions  and  deeds,  all  mental  elevation  and  sacrificial 
sentiments  manifest  this  fact,  and  equally  manifest  is 
the  lack  of  due  solicitude  for  conscience  in  all  ungodly 
striving. 

Looking  upward  from  our  lowest  stages  of  life,  we 
perceive  an  occasional  flash  of  Divine  Light,  which 
reminds  us  that  we  still  are  the  children  of  God. 
Following  this  holy  Light  with  consecrated  interest,  our 
wretchedness  begins  to  lessen  and  noticeable  security 
and  strength  enter  our  hearts.,  According  to  the  power 
of  our  attention  to  the  holy  Voice,  depends  the  dura¬ 
tion  of  its  holy  visit.  Following  intensely,  we  gain 
the  love  of  virtues  and,  with  this  love,  the  true  dignity 
and  the  light  and  love  of  God,  which  alone  afford 
spiritual  resuscitation,  regeneration  and  salvation. 

Moving  onward  with  the  leading  Voice  of  God, 
our  visions  become  clearer,  weightier,  subhmer  and 
more  consistent.  With  this  uplift  of  the  intellect,  we 
begin  to  gather  and  understand  the  most  momentous 
facts  of  life;  we  scrutinize  them  with  the  aid  of  con¬ 
science  and  consolidate  them  into  a  theory  of  our 
inward  experience.  The  subhmer  the  soul’s  inward 
experience,  the  greater  is  its  theory.  Nothing  of 
intrinsic  worth  is  omitted.  All  manifestations  of  the 
Divine  Superspirit  are  carefully  noted,  their  inter- 


ATTENTION  TO  THE  VOICE  OF  GOD  185 


relations  fathomed  and  the  results  posited  and 
followed. 

Only  souls  whose  attention  to  the  Voice  of  God 
is  intense,  are  able  to  explore  the  immense  worth  of 
life.  Religious  convictions,  critenons  of  thought,  rec¬ 
ognition  of  temporal  authority  and  rules  of  life,  they 
all  depend  on  conscience,  the  supreme  authority  of 
judgment  and  the  holy  guide  to  the  just  order  of  life. 

The  continuous  consultation  of  the  intellect  with 
conscience  constitutes  the  formidable  might  of  righteous 
judgment.  The  metaphysician,  as  well  as  the  every¬ 
day  practical  man,  sees  and  feels  the  necessity  for 
this  consultation,  the  former  to  construct  on  absolute 
ground  the  intellectual  architecture  of  ideas,  according 
to  the  gradation  of  objective  values,  and  the  latter  to 
fulfill  a  generally  honorable  life. 

Mental  attention  to  the  Voice  of  God  is  the  lawful 
state  of  our  self-consciousness,  the  living  contact  of  our 
mind  with  the  Light  of  God,  without  which  contact 
the  leadership  of  truth  cannot  exert  its  full  might. 
The  transcendent  ground  of  our  intellect  is  Divine 
Truth,  and,  consequently,  it  must  not  only  be  out¬ 
wardly  recognized  but  inwardly  heeded  as  the  sole 
light  of  life. 

In  this  determination  consists  the  virtue  of  our  mind; 
for  it  evolves  the  concreteness  of  truth  within  ourselves 
and  imparts  logical  power,  which  reflects  absoluteness. 
Owing  to  the  lack  of  this  attentive  determination  to 


186 


VIRTUES 


conscience  in  our  mental  efforts,  the  profoundest  objects 
of  life  appear  abstract.  And  why?  Because  they  are 
abstracted  by  us  from  the  concrete  basis  of  conscience, 
which  alone  makes  the  idea  of  God  an  absolutely  living 
fact. 

The  most  conspicuous  abstract  is  the  unvirtuous 
soul.  He  not  only  abstracts  himself  from  God,  but 
also  from  the  noblest  relations  of  men.  He  may,  as 
he  so  .  often  does,  acknowledge  the  existence  of  God, 
but  God  needs  no  acknowledgment  of  His  existence; 
it  is  the  soul  which  needs  the  holy  acknowledgment 
of  God  that  it  be  worthy  and  truthful. 

Attention  to  conscience  is  the  rising  process  of  the 
innate  tendency  to  the  Light  of  God  within  the  very 
principle  of  the  intellect,  which  is  self  -consciousness. 
This  rising  process  proceeds  by  virtue  of  inward  deter¬ 
mination  to  truth.  Without  this  determination  even 
the  most  capacious  mind  cannot  become  lucid  with 
respect  to  the  knowledge  of  the  first  principles  of  life. 
Hence,  a  religion  which  does  not  shine  with  the  full 
power  and  order  of  truth  is  a  poor  religion,  and  is 
bound  to  be  deficient,  erroneous  and  often  injurious 
to  virtuous  endeavors. 


CLEAVING  TO  CONSCIENCE 


As  affinity  to  God  demands  adherence  of  our  mind 
to  Divine  light,  and  affiliation  with  God  constant 
attention  of  our  mind  to  His  holy  Voice,  thus  imitation 
of  Divine  Life  demands  the  most  inward  cleaving  to 
and  most  intense  embrace  of  the  Voice  of  God. 

Cleaving  to  conscience  is  more  than  the  willingness 
to  hearken  to  the  eternal  Voice,  or  to  possess  faith  in 
and  obedience  to  its  heavenly  call;  it  is  a  pious  abandon 
to  this  holy  Voice,  with  profoundest  gratitude. 

The  most  expressive  distinction  of  divine  childship 
consists  in  the  love  of  the  Voice  of  God,  for  guidance, 
light,  attraction  and  fruition  of  virtuous  life  flow  from 
this  Divine  Voice. 

There  is  no  guide  like  God  and  no  voice  like  His. 
Even  in  the  most  intimate  state  of  friendship,  none 
is  so  near  to  the  soul  as  God.  Indeed,  it  is  the  nearness 
of  God  on  which  true,  lasting  and  blessing  friendship 
is  built.  Neither  in  heaven  nor  on  earth,  can  anything 
be  relied  on  with  such  implicit  trust  as  the  Voice  of 
our  Heavenly  Father. 

It  is  God’s  holy  Voice  that  binds  our  soul  to  Him, 
and,  struggle  as  we  will  to  free  ourselves  from  this 
Voice,  we  cannot  do  it.  The  bond  is  there  as  the 

187 


188 


VIRTUES 


supreme  fact  of  our  life  and  is  so  manifest  in  each 
soul  that  its  universality  awes  and  uplifts  us  more  than 
all  other  facts  of  life. 

The  voice  of  God  is  the  everlasting  joy  of  heavenly 
spirits,  the  invincible  stronghold  of  the  virtuous,  the 
constant  aspiration  of  the  weak,  the  true  consolation 
of  the  suffering  and  the  just  torment  of  the  wicked. 
In  these  facts  Divine  Fatherhood  reveals  its  eternal 
dominion,  splendor,  attraction,  compassion  and  rigor. 

The  actual  revelation  of  God  as  our  eternal  Father, 
our  most  inward  relation  to  Him,  the  reason  of  our 
spiritual  dignity,  the  necessity  of  a  great  virtuous  life 
and  the  constant  longing  for  great  immortal  life,  all 
these  are  centered  in  conscience. 

Nowhere  can  truth  be  better  ascertained  than  at 
the  fount  of  its  life.  The  Voice  of  God  is  the  Voice 
of  this  eternal  fount,  and  hence  is  the  living  oracle. 
Here  each  question,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least  sig¬ 
nificant,  finds  its  correct  answer.  The  searcher  for 
God  finds  the  living  and  speaking  God.  Pure  love 
finds  generous  reciprocity;  the  weary  intellect,  the  pro- 
foundest  support  and  highest  animation;  the  longing 
heart,  its  stronghold  and  rest;  the  praying  soul,  abun¬ 
dant  assistance,  and  the  sufferer  true  consolation. 

Pure  reason  as  well  as  pure  life  center  in  conscience. 
All  great  thoughts  of  men  thrust  out  like  rays  from 
the  focus  of  inward  light  installed  by  the  Superspirit 
of  God.  H  ere  the  flame  of  intellect  burns  the  bright- 


CLEAVING  TO  CONSCIENCE 


189 


est.  All  mental  concepts  are  visions  of  the  infinity 
of  Divine  Grandeurs,  which,  like  eternal  beams  of 
might,  hold  the  immensities  of  worlds  in  their  embrace. 
Here  Holiness  is  the  holiest  principle  of  all  principles, 
Truth  the  holiest  process  of  all  processes,  and  Love 
the  holiest  effect  of  all  effects.  And  this  superessential 
trinity  of  the  Divine  might  transcendentally  permeates 
the  infinite  grandeur  of  Divine  Creation  and  clearly 
reflects  in  each  soul  and  in  each  act  and  fact  of  virtuous 
life. 

Nothing  is  simpler  than  holy  determination,  holy 
truth  and  holy  love,  in  their  absolute  and  relative 
aspects.  They  are  the  essential  content  of  religion, 
the  highest  goal  of  philosophy  and  the  paramount  sum 
and  substance  of  life.  The  Voice  of  God  reveals 
and  proclaims  them  as  the  highest  and  best  in  existence, 
and  calls  on  all  souls  for  their  willing  affirmation. 
Th  is  affirmation  consists  of  faith,  devotion  and  grati¬ 
tude,  which  are  the  determining  powers  for  participat¬ 
ing  in  the  glory,  might  and  eternity  of  God. 

For  this  reason  the  virtuous  soul  cleaves  to  conscience 
with  awe-inspiring  immovableness.  Whether  in  joy  or 
sadness,  in  bliss  or  suffering,  he  follows  the  Voice 
of  God,  his  sole  guide,  stronghold  and  salvation. 
To  this  Voice  he  binds  all  forces  of  his  soul  in  pro- 
foundest  piety  and  most  inward  abandon. 

Conscience  is  the  sublime  dwelling  of  the  virtuous 
soul.  Herein  he  lives,  works  and  rejoices.  There  is 


190 _ VIRTUES _ 

nothing  that  supersedes  or  equals  conscience,  for  it  is 
the  living  bond  with  God,  the  divine  form  of  sanctifi¬ 
cation,  the  animator  of  subhmest  motives  and  the  inex¬ 
haustible  source  of  beatifying  love. 

The  virtuous  soul  cleaves  to  conscience  more  than 
to  his  own  life,  because  he  adores  and  esteems  it  more 
than  his  own  life.  Conscience  is  the  sanctifying  breath 
of  Divinity  and  the  ruling  might  in  creation.  It  is 
the  formal  Will  of  God,  according  to  which  the  soul 
is  formed,  and  every  deviation  from  its  spirit  causes 
spiritual  deformity  of  the  human  character.  Take 
away  conscience  from  the  soul  and  we  would  have 
an  evolution  that  would  be  satanic. 

What  would  the  will  be  that  did  not  cleave  to  con¬ 
science?  A  monster  of  wickedness.  What  would  the 
mind  be  without  conscience?  A  deceiver  and  liar. 
And  how  would  the  heart  appear  without  conscience? 
Like  a  devouring  hell. 

Conscience  is  not  a  mere  practical  expedient  of 
human  relations,  as  so  many  superficial  thinkers  assert. 
Conscience  is  the  divine  ground  of  the  soul,  and  the 
most  inward  law  of  God,  which  suffers  no  pretense, 
no  falsehood  and  no  dishonor.  It  is  more!  Con¬ 
science  demands  that  each  soul  be  virtuous,  and  its 
demand  is  so  palpable  and  insistent  that  none  has 
spiritual  power  and  peace  unless  this  demand  is  ful¬ 
filled. 

From  the  abyss  of  sins,  saints  have  risen  by  virtue 


CLEAVING  TO  CONSCIENCE  191 


of  conscience.  Through  conscience  prophets  were 
born.  Through  conscience,  the  steps  of  history  furnish 
records  of  betterment.  Every  duty  of  love  and  contract 
is  accepted  and  bound  by  conscience.  The  whole 
inward  and  outward  order  of  men  stands  and  lives  on 
conscience.  Consequently,  the  cleaving  to  conscience 
is  the  supreme  necessity  of  the  soul  and  none  realizes 
this  necessity  so  much  as  the  virtuous  man,  who, 
through  the  realization  of  this  cleaving,  attains  his 
virtuous  character.  In  conscience  he  finds  the  law  of 
all  laws  and  the  eternal  Light  of  God. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  WISDOM 

The  virtue  of  the  mental  tendency  to  God  pertains 
to  the  general  mentality  of  the  self-conscious  and  self- 
sentient  will,  through  which  tendency  the  fact  that 
conscience  is  the  real  basis  of  true  cognoscibility  and 
virtuous  discrimination  is  made  clear;  while  the  virtue 
of  wisdom  pertains  to  the  application  of  each  particular 
force  of  the  soul  to  conscience.  Hence  the  particular 
application  of  the  will,  intellect  and  sentiment  to  con¬ 
science  constitutes  the  virtue  of  wisdom  and,  at  the 
same  time,  denotes  its  intrinsic  characters. 


192 


APPLICATION  OF  WILL  TO  CONSCIENCE 


To  apply  our  will  to  conscience  means  to  follow 
faithfully  the  leadership  of  the  Voice  of  God.  It  is 
consistent  and  wise  that  the  soul’s  voluntary  forces 
should  follow  the  absolute  determination  of  God, 
because  the  holy  origin  of  our  spiritual  forces  is  God. 

Moreover,  God  is  our  eternal  prototype.  His  Holi¬ 
ness,  Truth  and  Love  constitute  the  clear  and  tangible 
prototype  of  our  life.  From  this  holiest  prototype  the 
free  will,  the  intellect  and  sentiment  are  derived,  that 
the  soul  may  be  the  immortal  witness  of  its  holy  origin 
and  the  participator  in  holy  destiny. 

The  soul,  as  such,  is  the  immortal  testimony  of 
Divine  grandeurs.  Its  relative  spiritual  structure  cor¬ 
responds  with,  and,  in  the  depth  of  its  inwardness, 
responds  to  the  Divine  grandeurs.  Even  the  most 
wicked  soul  either  appeals  to  or  cowers  before  the 
Holiness,  Truth  and  Love  of  God. 

Conscience  is  the  eternal  reflex  and  the  eternally 
resounding  Voice  of  Divine  grandeurs.  It  proclaims 
our  affinity  to  God  and  our  participation  in  His  holiest 
Life.  It  ordains  our  affiliation  with  God,  and  our 
cooperation  with  His  holiest  Life  and  it  summons  us 

193 


VIRTUES 


194 

to  follow  God,  in  order  to  affirm  God  in  us  and  our¬ 
selves  in  Him. 

No  man  can  be  profoundly  or  seriously  religious 
unless  he  feels,  sees  and  accepts  this  transcendent  bond 
and  actual  contact  of  the  soul  with  God.  Our  faith 
in  God  arises  from  this  holy  bond  and  without  this 
faith  no  wise  act  can  be  performed. 

All  wise  acts  are  accomplished  through  the  living 
faith  in  God,  and  human  deeds,  so  various  in  their 
context  and  so  weak  in  true  nobility,  are  a  distinct 
proof  of  the  lack  of  this  living  faith.  Where  a  rela¬ 
tive  being  is  detached  from  the  absolute  Object  of 
truth,  no  great  and  sincere  application  to  the  wisdom 
of  acts  is  possible.  There  is  neither  the  ground .  nor 
the  incentive  for  great,  wise  acts.  All  that  remains 
in  such  a  state  of  mentality  is  the  application  of  the 
will  to  exaggerated  cautiousness,  which  practically 
means,  to  do,  to  think,  and  to  feel  as  little  as  possible 
in  order  not  to  be  involved  in  any  exertion  of  sacri¬ 
ficial  deeds  and  thinking. 

Sacrificial  deeds  have  their  source  in  fortitude,  the 
real  heroism  of  the  faith  in  God.  This  heroism  requires 
heroic  thinking  in  order  to  produce  wise  acts.  Wisdom 
without  the  fortitude  of  a  profoundly  religious  char¬ 
acter  is  impossible.  The  determination  to  think  wisely 
always  precedes  the  thinking  act.  And  how  can  one 
think  wisely  without  the  assurance  and  acceptance  of 
the  living  object  of  wisdom? 


APPLICATION  OF  WILL 


195 


The  sole  object  of  wisdom  is  to  see  the  highest  and 
grandest  values  of  life  in  order  to  realize  them  in 
oneself.  The  highest  value  of  our  life  is  sanctification, 
the  free  proof  of  our  divine  childship,  wherein  all  the 
forces  of  our  soul  reach  the  full  development  for  the 
association  with  God,  with  His  eternal  majesty,  creative 
might  and  His  inspiring  and  adorable  sacrifice. 

This  heavenly  life  is  the  life  for  the  sake  of  which 
God  gives  and  demands  wisdom,  that  our  whole  deter¬ 
mination  be  applied  to  it  in  order  to  live  according 
to  His  holy  likeness.  Great  and  superhuman  as  this 
divine  demand  is,  it  is  attainable  to  some  degree  even 
in  our  little  human  souls.  Each  soul  has  a  feeling 
and  longing  for  the  elevation  and  expansion  of  its 
conscience,  the  God-given  bond  and  the  holy  warrant 
of  its  honor  and  righteousness. 

For  this  reason  the  virtuous  soul  applies  his  deter¬ 
mination  principally  to  conscience.  The  Voice  of  God 
calls  incessantly  for  this  holy  application.  It  is  the 
supreme  call  to  all  great  endeavors.  It  dwells  under 
and  permeates  the  whole  self-consciousness  and  self- 
sentiency  of  the  will  and  urges  to  the  fulfillment  of 
highest  dignity. 

The  highly  virtuous  soul  continually  applies  his  will 
to  the  Will  of  God.  In  the  self-consciousness  of  his 
glorious  childship  he  sees  the  Divine  Mights  holding 
and  leading  him.  In  his  faith  he  follows  them  step 
by  step.  He  sees  in  his  devotion  that  he  could  not 


196 


VIRTUES 


live  without  Divine  guidance,  because  he  would  have 
to  live  without  gratitude,  a  spiritual  power  of  mutuality 
without  which  it  is  impossible  for  the  virtuous  soul  to 
exist. 

Owing  to  the  nearness  to  and  tangibility  of  the 
mights  of  God,  this  holy  following  of  the  Divine  Will 
fills  the  soul  with  a  spiritual  force  which  surpasses  all 
conceptions  of  the  less  virtuous  and  baffles  and  humili¬ 
ates  the  proud.  Neither  slander  nor  persecution  cause 
the  virtuous  soul  to  deviate  from  his  sublime  course. 
Though  he  does  not  invite  suffering,  he  is  always  ready 
to  bear  it,  and  never  avoids  it  when  called  upon  to 
fulfill  a  divine  duty.  The  wisdom  of  these  deeds  is 
proved  by  the  invincibility  and  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
great  souls  over  iniquity. 

To  follow  the  Voice  of  God  is  to  be  in  company 
with  the  Divine  Superspirit.  His  almighty  transcen¬ 
dence  carries  the  faithful  soul  over  all  obstacles  in  his 
upward  course.  The  wise  in  spirit  readily  endures 
privations  for  the  sake  of  hastening  his  virtuous  rise. 
No  delay  is  tolerated.  It  must  be  accomplished,  there¬ 
fore  it  should  begin  at  once.  No  action  is  so  pressing 
and  no  thought  so  wise  as  the  attainment  of  virtues, 
and  the  greater  the  inward  energy  the  faster  the 
progress. 

This  is  not  impatience,  as  some  who  care  more  for 
earthly  comfort  and  common  respectability,  superfi¬ 
cially  assume.  It  is  the  intensity  of  the  will  to  achieve 


_ APPLICATION  OF  WILL _ 197 

what  is  supremely  wise;  the  applying  of  all  energy  to 
the  following  of  the  Voice  of  God,  the  intensest  Voice 
of  all  voices. 

All  great  deeds  are  results  of  intense  action.  A 
whole-souled  action  means  an  action  in  its  fullest 
capacity.  The  Voice  of  God  is  the  eternal  Voice  of 
H  is  holy  Superspirit,  which  affects  not  only  the  depth 
and  height  but  the  whole  content  of  the  soul.  There¬ 
fore,  the  soul’s  answer  must  be  whole-souled,  which 
means  to  the  utmost  capacity  of  its  volition.  Even 
in  our  own  little  life,  half-souled  deeds  are  not  very 
acceptable. 

Life  in  holiness  is  supremely  intense.  Each  virtue 
is  an  expression  of  this  holy  intensity,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  is  so  difficult  for  the  sinful  to  attain 
virtue.  It  requires  a  will  of  great  power  to  become 
virtuous,  but  this  power  must  be  applied,  for  we  are 
predestined  to  live  a  superhuman  life.  Death  proves 
it.  We  should  never  part  from  this  abode  were  it 
not  for  the  necessity  of  a  higher  life. 

The  virtue  of  wisdom  is  the  school  of  true  con¬ 
sciousness.  H  ere  the  soul  is  taught  to  perceive  and 
conceive  everything  in  the  light  of  a  holy  and  glorious 
life.  It  is  taught  the  necessity  of  glorious  life  through 
holy  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude,  the  relative  pro¬ 
totype  of  all  glory.  It  is  taught  the  necessity  of  sub¬ 
mitting  the  whole  complex  of  consciousness  to  the  self- 
consciousness  of  the  will,  where  the  contact  with  con- 


198 


VIRTUES 


science  is  the  nearest.  All  consciousness  must  be 
directed  wisely  in  order  to  obtain  virtuous  results. 
Consciousness  without  conscience  is  inconcrete,  and  can 
be,  as  it  often  is,  employed  for  unworthy  motives  and 
deeds.  According  to  the  spiritual  law  consciousness 
is  ruled  by  the  self-conscious  will,  and  the  self-conscious 
will  is  ruled  by  conscience. 

No  great  and  wise  act  issues  from  the  mere  power 
of  the  will;  it  receives  its  sanction  and  glory  from  the 
strict  application  of  the  will’s  power  to  the  Will  of 
God.  God  is  first,  superessentially,  transcendentally, 
super-entitatively  and  actually;  therefore  also  His 
glorious  sanction  is  first.  It  derives  from  the  intimity 
of  His  eternal  glory,  which,  like  a  holy  fire,  permeates 
conscience,  that  the  erring  soul  may  not  forget  the 
grandeur  and  inward  sense  of  glory.  Glory  is  the 
transcendent  property  of  God,  therefore  God  bestows 
the  sublimest  participation  in  glory  on  those  who 
intensely  and  wisely  apply  their  will  to  Elis  holiest 

Will. 


i 


APPLICATION  OF  THE  INTELLECT  TO 

CONSCIENCE 


The  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  will  is  the  first 
factor  as  regards  the  application  to  conscience.  Its 
activity  consists  in  the  continuous  endeavor  to  face 
conscience.  This  endeavor  constitutes  the  first  and 
most  intimate  act  of  wisdom,  because  it  concerns  the 
very  essence  of  the  soul. 

The  intellect,  being  only  a  general  consciousness  of 
all  things,  and  having  its  basis  in  the  self-consciousness 
of  the  will  as  the  source  of  all  interest,  is  the  second 
factor  as  regards  the  application  to  conscience,  and, 
therefore,  constitutes  the  concomitant  and  processive 
»  application  to  conscience.  Endeavor  for  consciousness 
always  precedes  the  act  of  consciousness.  For  this 
reason,  not  consciousness  but  the  self-conscious  will  is 
the  responsible  factor  for  all  deeds. 

Consequently,  the  self-conscious  will  is  not  only 
responsible  for  all  its  deeds,  but  also  for  its  conscious¬ 
ness  by  which  means  the  deed  is  performed.  This 
proves  the  necessity  for  the  utmost  seriousness  in  attain¬ 
ing  the  right  consciousness  in  order  to  fulfill  wisely  the 
task  of  worthy  life. 

This  seriousness  is  tested  m  our  mental  dispositions 

199 


200 _  VIRTUES _ 

and  mental  complex.  The  quality  of  the  complex  of 
individual  ideas  invariably  proves  the  quality  of  man’s 
character.  His  consciousness  always  dwells  in  what 
he  strives  for  or  what  is  dear  to  his  heart.  The  word 
is  the  sound  of  his  thought  and  the  thought  is  the 
processive  form  of  his  character,  which  means  the  pres¬ 
entation  of  his  self-conscious  and  self-sentient  will  and 
the  whole  make-up  of  his  spiritual  being. 

Intellect  is  the  spiritual  means  of  cognoscibility  of 
the  values  of  life  and  the  criterion  of  values  lies  in 
conscience.  Consequently,  the  application  of  the  intel¬ 
lect  to  conscience  constitutes  the  paramount  necessity 
of  right  understanding.  This  application  constitutes 
the  mental  virtue  of  seeing  the  profoundest  reason  of 
our  own  life  as  well  as  of  all  life  around  us.  It 
demonstrates  the  eternal  object  of  superspirituahty  as 
well  as  our  own  corresponding  spiritual  forces,  intrinsi-  . 
cally  adhering  to  the  superspiritual  life  of  God. 

This  demonstration  is  not  a  casual,  external  demon¬ 
stration,  but  a  continuous  inward  demonstration  of  our 
unalterable  dependence  from  God.  Whenever  and 
wherever  our  intellect  reaches  out,  ever  and  anon  there 
is  the  presentation  of  the  might  of  Divinity,  immovable, 
solemn  and  full  of  insisting  interest. 

The  virtuous  soul,  studying  God  within  his  con¬ 
science,  sees  the  ineffable  grandeur  and  harmony  of 
Divine  mights  and  the  sacrificial  gift  of  divine  partici¬ 
pation  in  this  Divine  grandeur  and  harmony.  Owing 


APPLICATION  OF  INTELLECT 


201 


to  constant  application  of  his  intellect  to  conscience, 
he  sees  under  its  light  the  nascent  and  growing  virtues, 
surrounding  the  soul  with  a  divine  atmosphere  and 
thus  imparting  a  power  of  self-consciousness  and  self- 
sentiency  to  the  will  which  is  invincible.  He  sees  the 
reason  of  his  will-power  in  the  affinity  to  God  and 
of  the  affiliation  with  and  imitation  of  God.  At  the 
same  time  he  sees  the  reason  of  his  clear  visions  in  the 
constant  contemplation  of  things  divine,  which  is  the 
most  important  contemplation.  Finally,  he  understands 
that  Truth,  being  the  eternal  presentation  of  Holiness, 
demands  and  is  worthy  of  utmost  sacrifice,  because  in 
itself  it  is  the  visual  process  of  all  sacrifices.  This 
vision  is  the  sublimest  and  wisest  labor  of  our  intellect, 
for  it  offers  the  highest,  the  best  and  the  most  con¬ 
cretely  harmonious  views. 

The  skeptical  inclination  of  the  average  man  is  due 
to  the  failure  to  apply  his  intellect  to  conscience.  If 
conscience  is  not  heeded  with  veneration  and  anima¬ 
tion  no  absolute  criterion  can  exist  in  our  intellect. 
And  without  this  absolute  criterion  everything  becomes 
doubtful,  mysterious  and  fatalistic.  Where  the  sacred 
source  of  the  worthiness,  immortal  interest  and  spiritual 
beauty  of  our  life  is  obscured,  the  soul  must  become 
haughty  and  impatient  in  its  will,  confused  and  arrogant 
in  its  thinking  and  depressed  and  disgruntled  in  its 
heart.  Then  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  to  God  and 


202 


VIRTUES 


man  are  displaced  by  fate,  self-devotion  and  ingrati¬ 
tude. 

The  absolute  criterion  is  not  a  mental  instrument 
of  human  reason,  as  intellectual  affectation  under  the 
pretext  of  philosophy  is  claiming.  It  is  the  dominating 
power  and  object  of  our  intellect.  Eliminate  the 
objective  term  “absolute”  from  our  intellect  and  the 
concept  of  truth  has  neither  objective  ground  nor  sub¬ 
jective  reason  and  force.  Then  all  thinking  becomes 
baseless  and  loses  itself  in  mere  relativities. 

The  virtue  of  wisdom  is  the  actual  course  of  the 
criterion  of  truth  in  us.  Is  it  absolutely  true?  This 
is  the  first  and  chief  question  which  confronts  each 
forming  concept.  Each  mental  analogy,  each  con¬ 
structive  synthesis  or  analytical  investigation,  and  each 
deduction  or  induction,  indeed,  every  mental  repre¬ 
sentation,  in  its  motive,  in  its  process  and  in  its  effect, 
must  bear  witness  to  the  absolute  Light  of  God. 

In  wisdom,  strict  application  to  conscience  as  the 
real  ground  of  logic  is  imperative,  and  the  confounding 
of  real  objects  with  subjective  capacities,  or  causes 
with  effects,  is  intolerable.  Its  insistence  is  felt  in  all 
practical  endeavors,  thoughts  and  sentiments.  But  only 
in  the  results  of  our  endeavors,  thoughts  and  sentiments 
are  we  aware  of  the  logical  consequences  of  the  appli¬ 
cation  of  the  intellect  to  conscience  or  the  lack  of  it. 
Then  we  know  whether  we  acted  wisely  or  not. 

The  whole  secret  of  mental  power  lies  in  the  power 


APPLICATION  OF  INTELLECT 


203 

of  applying  our  intellect  to  conscience.  Its  source  is 
Divine  superspintuality  and  its  predicates  are  absolute 
and  infallible.  No  matter  how  capacious  one’s  knowl¬ 
edge  may  be,  or  how  brilliant  and  delightful  its  pres¬ 
entation,  if  it  does  not  possess  the  distinct  character 
of  absolute  truth,  it  is  soon  forgotten.  Even  the  weak 
human  soul  is  inwardly  so  spiritually  disposed  that, 
while  in  its  light-mindedness  it  cares  little  for  wisdom 
and  even  often  derides  it,  it  nevertheless  feels  its  power 
and  ultimately  discards  everything  that  has  no  direct 
relation  to  wisdom. 

Wisdom  pertains  but  to  a  few  great  objects,  to  God, 
to  conscience,  constituting  our  relation  to  God,  and 
to  the  Divine  dominion  of  His  creation.  In  its  final 
issue  our  whole  life  and  all  human  sciences  are 
absorbed  in  these  objects.  It  is  only  the  superficiality 
of  our  character  which  allows  infinitely  smaller  objects 
to  overshadow  these  great  objects  of  life.  Owing  to 
this  unwisdom  we  pay  the  price  of  human  confusion 
and  disorder.  Where  the  simplest  and  profoundest 
objects  of  knowledge  are  not  solicitously  heeded,  we 
cannot  see  the  light  of  the  clear  road  of  our  destiny 
and  are  bound  to  lose  our  way. 

Wisdom  demands  the  strictest  application  of  our 
intellect  to  conscience.  Our  thinking  in  all  instances 
is  either  virtuous  or  unvirtuous.  The  right  and  the 
wrong,  whether  in  theoretical  or  practical  thinking, 
depends  on  the  extent  of  the  application  of  our  intellect 


204 


VIRTUES 


to  the  Voice  of  God.  Understanding  pertains  exclu¬ 
sively  to  truth,  and  to  truth  in  all  its  sublimity.  Only 
the  frivolous  mind  juggles  with  thoughts.  Each  correct 
thought  is  a  definition  of  holy  reality,  and  in  the  cor¬ 
rectness  of  definition  consists  the  intellectual  wisdom  of 
the  virtuous.  For  this  reason,  every  deviation  from 
truth  is  dishonoring  and  painful  and  every  falsehood 
or  distortion  is  abhorrent  to  the  virtuous. 

In  wisdom,  each  thought  has  intrinsic  worthiness, 
rightness  and  strict  consistency  with  holy  life.  Each 
definition  is  lucidly  concrete  and  can  be  carried  by 
unbroken  induction  to  the  absolute  ground  of  truth. 
Or,  in  a  deductive  way,  it  can  be  extended  to  the 
limit  of  defining  power  without  losing  its  clearness  and 
consistency. 

In  the  application  of  our  mind  to  conscience,  not 
only  is  it  a  question  of  correctness  but  also  of  the 
righteousness  of  thought.  Since  each  thought  con¬ 
tributes  its  defining  portion  to  righteous  deeds,  so  in 
itself  it  must  be  righteous.  No  view  and  no  convic¬ 
tion,  no  matter  how  strongly  rooted  in  our  minds,  is 
righteous  unless  it  is  in  strict  conformity  with  conscience. 
Wisdom  alters,  improves,  or,  if  utterly  untrue,  eradi¬ 
cates  wrong  views  without  the  slightest  compunction. 

Furthermore,  the  virtue  of  wisdom  requires  purity 
of  thought.  An  unclean  motive  casts  its  contaminating 
shadow  on  the  mind  and  thus  obscures  it,  making  it  less 
able  to  explain  the  right  and  to  deny  the  wrong.  Wis- 


APPLICATION  OF  INTELLECT 


205 


dom  does  not  prohibit  the  flights  of  mental  imagination ; 
it  only  demands  that  this  imagination  be  pure,  and,  if 
pure,  it  allows  it  to  rise  above  our  common  life  in 
order  to  evoke  a  more  vivid  attraction  for  a  virtuous 
life.  • 

Phantasy  is  the  poetry  and  artistry  of  the  soul.  It 
eases  the  rigid  logic  of  life.  It  assuages  mental  efforts 
and  crowns  them  with  fruitional  delight.  Wisdom 
produces,  enhances  and  guards  virtuous  imagination  in 
order  to  make  higher  realities  more  attractive  and 
tangible  and  to  affect  our  sentiments  with  the  desire 
for  virtue.  Virtuous  imagination  clothes  pure  desires 
with  heavenly  vestments  and  thus  causes  an  elevating 
influence  on  the  fallen,  and  brings  consolation  and  hope 
for  final  salvation. 


APPLICATION  OF  SENTIMENTS  TO 

CONSCIENCE 


Sentiment,  being  the  effective  force  of  our  life, 
demands  the  sentimental  effectiveness  of  our  intellect 
with  respect  to  wisdom.  All  our  possessions  are  senti¬ 
mental  possessions.  We  only  possess  what  we  desire 
and  long  for.  If  we  speak  of  possessions  by  force 
of  determination,  it  means  that  the  will  has  decided 
to  appropriate  what  the  sentiment  desires.  If  we  speak 
of  intellectual  possessions  we  by  no  means  exclude  the 
sentimental  force  which  prompts  the  self-conscious  and 
self-sentient  will  to  take  hold  of  them.  There  is  no 
soul,  good  or  bad,  that  possesses  anything  within  its 
character  and  disposition  for  which  it  never  had  a 
desiring  sentiment. 

The  lack  of  application  of  our  will  and  sentiment 
to  conscience  causes  the  psychological  confusion  in  us, 
because  of  which  we  do  not  understand  ourselves  and, 
consequently,  have  only  a  very  superficial  knowledge 
of  our  spiritual  forces. 

Each  man  with  any  pretension  to  intelligence  should 
know  distinctly  that  his  personality  consists  of  his  self- 
conscious  and  self-sentient  will;  that  his  self-conscious¬ 
ness  is  the  ground  of  his  intellect  and  self-sentiency 
the  ground  of  his  sentiment,  that  the  will  is  the  choosing 
and  deciding  factor,  and  sentiment  the  prompting  and 

206 


APPLICATION  OF  SENTIMENTS 


207 


holding  factor  of  all  superspiritual,  spiritual  and  mate¬ 
rial  content.  In  other  words,  the  determining  will  is 
the  master  of  the  human  personality,  his  self-conscious¬ 
ness  and  adhering  intellect  the  comprehending  spiritual 
force,  and  his  self-sentiency  the  keeping  vessel  of  all 
his  acquisitions,  wherein  all  desires  live  and  wherefrom 
all  longings  arise.  If  I  say,  “I  understand,”  it  means 
that  I  have  a  sufficiently  formed  concept  of  the  object 
in  question,  but  I  express  neither  will  nor  desire  for  it. 
If  I  say,  ‘‘I  am  attracted  to”  a  given  object,  it  means, 
I  have  only  a  longing  or  desire  for  this  object.  But 
if  I  say,  “I  want  this  object,”  it  means  that  I  have 
decided  to  attain  it. 

Since  the  soul’s  interest  centers  in  its  heart,  it  is  evi¬ 
dent  that  the  will  does  not  move  to  action  unless  it 
is  attracted  or  prompted  by  more  or  less  distinct  senti¬ 
ments  which  it  already  possesses.  Accordingly,  it  is 
also  evident  how  important  the  cultivation  of  our  senti¬ 
ments  relative  to  conscience  must  be  in  order  to  attain 
wisdom,  the  virtuous  rule  of  our  conduct. 

Wisdom  has  been  treated  almost  exclusively  from 
an  idealistic  standpoint  and,  in  consequence  of  this 
onesided  presentation,  has  found  little  place  in  our 
hearts.  Although  we  occasionally  delight  in  wise  acts 
and  wise  thoughts,  they  seldom  sink  deeply  into  our 
soul.  We  lack  the  appreciation  of  and  gratitude  for 
wise  deeds  and  ideas  and,  therefore,  are  so  insensitive 
to  its  guiding  and  blessing  might. 


208 


VIRTUES 


Where  the  sentiment  of  wisdom  is  not  heeded  and 
loved,  there  is  no  possibility  for  any  improvement  in 
our  social  relations,  nor  is  it  possible  to  introduce  higher 
standards  in  our  family  relations  or  contribute  anything 
to  the  spirit  of  greater  and  purer  friendship,  so  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  spread  of  virtuous  life. 

The  whole  practical  will,  intellect  and  sentiment 
are  in  continuous  contact  with  wisdom.  Yet,  if  the 
application  of  sentiment  to  conscience  is  not  vivid, 
efficient  wisdom  cannot  be  attained.  For  this  reason 
in  all  larger  complexes  of  human  tendencies  and  ideas 
the  temporary  leaders  of  humanity  are  so  narrow,  help¬ 
less  and  frequently  wrong.  But  what  can  we  expect 
from  men  who  have  no  love  for  the  Voice  of  God? 
Indeed,  for  those  with  little  or  no  love  of  the  virtue 
of  wisdonv,  the  process  of  right  thinking  is  surpassingly 
difficult,  hence  the  rambling  of  the  human  mind,  its 
lack  of  constructive  ability,  its  consequent  indulgence 
in  vain  and  unenhghtening  speculation  and  criticism, 
and  the  proneness  to  belittle  everything  except  oneself. 

The  application  of  sentiments  to  conscience  consists 
in  the  love  of  the  Voice  of  God,  which  meets  and 
embraces  the  virtuous  heart.  In  this  embrace  the  heart 
arrives  at  its  profoundest  inwardness.  It  feels  the 
holy  ground  from  which  issues  the  sacred  vessel,  and 
inhales  the  superspiritual  atmosphere  which  surrounds 
its  life.  The  will  to  wisdom  is  its  pulsation  and  the 
consciousness  of  wisdom  its  brightest  flame. 


APPLICATION  OF  SENTIMENTS  209 

In  the  love  of  wisdom,  each  presentation  of  the 
superessential  and  transcendent  mights  of  God  is  not 
only  understood  but  also  most  fervently  loved;  for 
to  the  virtuous  each  holy  presentation  in  conscience  is 
the  highest  object  of  love.  Hence  the  application  of 
all  sentiments  to  the  love  of  wisdom  is  the  distinct 
characteristic  of  the  intensely  virtuous. 

Holiness  is  supreme  reality,  and,  through  the  forms 
of  its  Truth,  the  participating  affinity,  cooperating 
affiliation  and  affirming  imitation  of  Divine  life  is  con¬ 
ceived  and  realized.  Holiness  must  be  contemplated 
and  followed  by  both  our  mind  and  heart  in  order 
to  enable  us  to  attain  and  sustain  the  love  of  wisdom. 

Wisdom  is  the  power  of  sublimest  knowledge.  It 
transforms  the  more  or  less  distinct  understanding  of 
truth  into  a  living  concreteness  of  light.  Here  truth 
not  only  shines,  but  warms  and  kindles  the  soul  to 
sacrificial  and  righteous  action. 

Virtuous  action  derives  from  fortitude,  but  wisdom 
guides  it  through  the  torrent  of  spiritual  activities. 
Each  advance  is  planned  and  each  step  is  measured 
by  wisdom.  Each  thought  is  considered  and  recon¬ 
sidered  according  to  the  laws  of  conscience  and  each 
feeling  is  balanced  according  to  the  profundity  of 
Divine  Love.  Each  impurity  of  motive  is  eliminated, 
each  falsehood  denounced  and  brought  to  account 
before  the  tribunal  of  conscience,  and  every  longing 
of  the  heart  is  corrected  and  directed  to  God.  This 


VIRTUES 


210 

is  the  life  of  the  love  of  wisdom,  the  transcendent 
Voice  of  God  with  regard  to  truth. 

The  love  of  wisdom  is  extolled  by  prophets  and 
sages,  and  its  practice  is  inculcated  by  mental  and 
sentimental  discipline.  The  power  of  wisdom  is  con¬ 
structive.  It  is  the  active  repairer  of  sinful  trespasses 
and  the  allayer  of  passionate  impulses.  It  points  to 
the  sublimer  values  of  life,  holds  personal  respect  in 
the  foreground  and  dictates  respectfulness  to  the  supe¬ 
riority  of  the  lofty  character  and  intellect. 

The  power  of  its  mutuality  causes  and  enhances 
friendship,  the  most  precious  gem  of  life,  and  makes 
all  human  contact  gentler  and  more  amiable.  Every¬ 
where  it  seeks  for  the  sublimest  and  best;  and  when 
found  it  adds  it  to  the  virtuous  power  of  the  will,  it 
employs  it  for  greater  enlightenment  of  the  mind  and 
the  endearment  of  every  virtuous  feeling. 

Thus  the  love  of  wisdom  is  the  most  diligent  worker 
and  custodian  of  the  soul’s  ego.  It  accelerates  the 
throbs  of  holy  volition,  fans  the  flame  of  intellect 
upward  to  divine  vision,  and,  with  this  virtuous  throb¬ 
bing  and  flaming,  brings  forth  the  immortal  blossom 
of  Divine  Love,  the  love  of  God,  which  it  embraces 
and  guards  with  all  its  might  and  strength. 

An  unrestrained  desire  for  truth  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,  for  no  great  attainment  is  possible  without 
intense  desire.  Here  lies  the  secret  of  the  great  thinker. 
He  knows  that  without  great  love  of  wisdom  no  great 


APPLICATION  OF  SENTIMENTS  211 


thoughts  can  be  conceived  and  no  rise  of  character 
accomplished. 

The  course  of  wisdom  must  be  followed  in  order 
to  enable  him  to  arrive  at  the  summit  of  highest  vision. 
Thus  impelled  by  the  inward  love  of  truth,  the  vir¬ 
tuous  man  advances  at  first  more  by  feeling  his  way 
than  by  seeing  it,  but  with  each  forward  step  his  path 
becomes  clearer  and  brighter.  What  formerly  ap¬ 
peared  only  as  a  distant  light,  toward  which  he  guided 
his  steps,  becomes  a  broad,  bright  road,  resplendent 
with  harmony  and  beauty. 

Each  advancing  step  heightens  his  vision  and  makes 
his  original  love  profounder.  Each  virtue  becomes 
more  vivid  with  light,  and,  according  to  its  sacrificial 
spirit,  provides  him  with  its  particular  torch  of  light, 
that  he  may  not  overlook  the  eternal  ground  of  their 
power,  the  mights  of  God,  the  holiest  attributes  of  His 
Divinity.  By  virtue  of  this  divine  equipment,  his 
powers  grow  to  such  proportions  that  they  evoke  in 
him  the  highest  admiration  for  everything  divine.  The 
mere  glimpses  of  such  visions  have  produced  prophets 
and  great  thinkers  on  this  earth. 

To  the  average  man  the  whole  power  of  wisdom 
is  inconceivable.  And  yet  every  man  knows  that  a 
few  great  ideas  will  lead  large  portions  of  humanity 
as  flocks  of  little  children  are  led,  and  cause  thrones 
and  institutions  sustained  by  ages  to  be  swept  away. 
What  is  it  that  prompts  a  man  to  go  to  suffering  and 


212 


VIRTUES 


death,  if  not  the  heart’s  prompting  to  give  up  life  for 
a  righteous  cause,  dictated  by  the  love  of  wisdom? 

If  one  cause  be  a  little  better  than  the  opposing 
cause,  it  is  worth  while  to  die  in  the  struggle  for  the 
better  cause.  This  is  practical  wisdom,  flowing  from 
the  righteous  heart.  It  is  the  spark  of  sacrifice  in  the 
human  heart,  which  wants  to  give  proof  that  it  is  not 
wholly  debased,  and  that  it  is  fit  for  a  greater  and 
sublimer  life  in  the  hereafter.  For  into  the  great 
beyond  above  us  only  those  can  enter  who  have  pre¬ 
pared  themselves  for  a  life  of  greater  sacrifices. 

Wisdom,  like  all  other  virtues,  is  intrinsically  sacri¬ 
ficial,  and  the  one  who  in  greater  or  less  degree  attains 
wisdom,  imparts  it  freely  to  his  earthly  brethren. 
Nothing  is  more  conspicuous  in  our  life  than  the  need 
of  great  counsel,  and  if  all  counsels  were  wise  they 
would  be  more  generally  heeded.  Great  disciples  have 
clung  to  their  great  teachers  and  thus  they  became 
wiser,  better  and  nobler,  for  the  love  of  wisdom  was 
the  prompting  of  their  hearts. 

But  the  love  of  wisdom  exacts  a  great  free  heart 
and  must  suffer  no  impediments  from  ruling  passions. 
The  realization  of  truth  is  its  sole  object  and  purpose. 
All  shadows  must  vanish,  all  mysteries  must  be  solved, 
all  intricacies  untwined  and  all  perplexities  cleared 
away,  that  the  light  of  God  become  the  holy  light 
of  our  own  life.  None  enters  heavenly  spheres  without 
the  complete  attainment  of  divine  truth  and  wisdom. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  SIMPLICITY 


Simplicity  is  the  last  and  most  effective  mental  virtue 
of  the  soul.  Owing  to  this  effectiveness  religious 
authors  have  had  great  difficulty  in  defining  the  essence 
of  this  great  virtue.  Apparently  simplicity  affects  the 
will,  the  intellect  and  the  sentiment  with  equal  power, 
but  its  essence  consists  in  the  veraciousness  of  the  will, 
intellect  and  sentiment.  We  do  not  say  Holiness  and 
Love  are  simple,  but  we  say  Truth  is  simple,  which 
means  that  it  is  self-evident;  it  is  the  essence  of 
evidence. 

Accordingly,  the  virtue  of  simplicity  is  the  real  evi¬ 
dence  and  definition  of  the  virtuous  soul.  Through  this 
virtue  the  whole  attitude  of  the  soul  is  seen  in  its  true 
light,  as  before  the  Face  of  God.  ft  is  for  this  very 
reason  that  characters  with  little  or  no  simplicity  are 
for  most  men  so  difficult  to  understand  and  to  estimate. 
Moreover,  such  characters  do  not  know  themselves 
and  in  fear  of  becoming  known  by  others,  live  on 
affectation,  simulation  and  speciousness. 

Simplicity  is  the  true  manifestation  of  inward  char¬ 
acteristics.  It  never  misrepresents,  conceals  or  simu¬ 
lates.  Its  veracity  is  as  calm  and  unassuming  as  it 

2 !  3 


214 


VIRTUES 


is  striking.  It  reveals  the  unreserved  reliance  on  con¬ 
science,  the  divine  witness  in  us.  Either  in  our  inward 
motives  or  external  transactions  we  are  in  the  presence 
of  this  divine  witness  which  we  cannot  escape  even 
in  our  sinful  or  criminal  actions.  As  it  calmly  invites 
the  virtuous  soul  to  reveal  his  inward  possession  of 
divine  truth  thus  it  presses  the  inwardness  of  the  sinner 
to  testify  to  his  own  guilt.  Self-confession  is  an  affir¬ 
mation  of  truth. 

The  virtuous  soul  has  nothing  to  conceal  and  is  like 
an  open  book  from  which  everybody  can  read  plainly. 
If  he  uses  discretion,  it  is  only  out  of  regard  for  others. 
He  knows  the  presumptuous  moods  of  man  and  avoids 
them  in  order  not  to  cause  misunderstanding.  Every¬ 
where  he  guards  the  spiritual  sense  of  virtuous  honor 
and  holds  it  before  his  eyes  and  in  his  heart.  This 
honor  is  his  intimate  treasure,  profound  delight  and  the 
true  competence  of  inward  life. 

The  virtue  of  simplicity  imparts  this  spiritual  com¬ 
petence  through  its  three  distinct  characters:  sincerity) 
of  will ,  y^eracit t?  of  mind  and  modest p  of  attitude. 


SINCERITY  OF  WILL 


Sincerity  of  will  is  primarily  the  norm  of  good 
motives  and  actions.  Its  source  lies  in  humility  and 
its  course  in  fortitude  and  wisdom.  It  manifests  the 
ready  willingness  to  serve  every  worthy  cause  and  its 
importance  consists  in  the  faithful  execution  of  all 
voluntary  powers  for  the  Highest  Good. 

Sincerity  affirms  and  expresses  humility,  for,  inwardly 
aware  of  its  affinity  to  God,  it  cannot  manifest  itself 
in  any  other  way  than  through  a  good  will.  It  abides 
by  the  virtue  of  faith,  because  it  is  conscious  that  only 
faith  in  the  Supreme  Good  supports  the  good  will.  It 
thrives  on  devotion  to  God,  for  devoutness  is  the  essen¬ 
tial  provider  of  Divine  love  and  of  eternal  fruition. 
In  itself  it  is  the  meekest  expression  of  gratitude,  for 
without  conditions  it  offers  its  whole-souled  service. 

Sincerity  is  fortitude  realized.  Here  fortitude  is 
no  longer  a  burning  energy,  but  a  calm,  steady  and 
constant  offering  of  this  virtuous  energy,  the  unruffled 
flow  of  perseverance.  Once  its  aim  is  accomplished, 
it  utters  no  words  of  triumph,  but  rejoices  in  inward 
quietude.  Invariably  secure  and  peaceful,  all  its  utter¬ 
ances  are  full  of  innocence  and  meekness.  It  assumes 
no  adornment  or  artifice. 


215 


216 


VIRTUES 


Ever  conscious  of  our  childship  to  God,  the  highest 
soul  sincerely  approaches  the  lowest,  as  its  equal  by 
right  and  by  duty,  though  not  by  earned  elevation. 
“Take  this,  my  friend,  for  I  am  able  and  happy  to 
serve  thee,”  is  the  spirit  of  true  sincerity.  Sincerity 
never  waits  to  be  asked,  but  rather  searches  for  the 
opportunity  to  manifest  its  good  will,  and  often  insists 
on  this  manifestation.  The  good  will  wants  to  be 
effectual,  therefore  sincerity  employs  all  its  power  of 
persuasion  to  accomplish  its  purpose,  a  result  so  neces¬ 
sary  in  our  life  of  suffering  and  tribulation. 

Sincerity  is  the  most  powerful  builder  and  the  main 
condition  of  friendship.  Here  no  motive  is  hidden  and 
no  thought  concealed.  1  he  heart  is  open  as  a  sacred 
book.  All  its  offerings  are  simple,  unostentatious,  as 
between  brothers,  but  true,  profound  and  powerful; 
true,  because  sincerity  is  the  voluntary  expression  of 
divine  truth,  and  profound  and  powerful  because  it 
inculcates  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  in  the  heart, 
the  most  vital  trinity  of  our  life.  Moreover,  it  con¬ 
firms  and  increases  fortitude  and  evokes  blessing. 

The  sincere  will  is  guided  by  Divine  Light  and  the 
sincere  motive  is  riveted  on  its  sublimest  focus,  the 
eternal  Superspirit  of  God.  1  ruth  is  the  object  of  the 
good  will’s  endeavor  and  on  this  endeavor  the  truth 
of  God  casts  its  heavenly  ray,  that  the  soul  may  see 
and  realize  the  harmony  with  God,  with  oneself  and 
with  our  fellow-beings. 


SINCERITY  OF  THE  WILL 


217 

The  attention  and  cleaving  to  the  voice  of  God  is 
the  moving  power  of  sincerity,  which  dwells  in  the 
intense  application  of  the  will  to  conscience  and  accord¬ 
ing  to  conscience  it  interprets  all  its  movements  and 
motives. 

In  this  interpretation  consists  the  sincerity  of  the 
will,  which  is  determined  to  express  in  its  self-conscious¬ 
ness,  as  well  as  in  all  its  mental  concepts,  its  consistence 
with  the  might  of  truth.  If  it  fails  in  this  effort,  its 
mental  concepts  will  lack  self-evidence,  the  indispen¬ 
sable  condition  of  self-understanding.  No  object  and 
purpose  can  be  understood  clearly  if  self-understanding 
is  not  clear  in  the  motor,  movement  and  motive  of  the 
will. 

The  virtuous  man  knows  and  feels  this  condition  and 
necessity  within  his  inwardness,  and  with  all  the  power 
of  his  determination  he  endeavors  to  attain  the  unerring 
standpoint  of  self-interpretation,  through  the  intense 
sincerity  of  the  will,  in  which  spiritual  competence 
consists. 

Truth  is  as  intimately  related  to  Holiness  as  is  light 
to  fire,  and  therefore  it  casts  its  rays  on  no  soul  in  which 
there  is  no  burning  spark  for  holiness.  1  he  endeavor 
for  holiness  must  be  burning  sincerely  in  order  to  attract 
the  rays  of  truth  and  be  encompassed  by  them. 

The  life  of  superhuman  souls  is  luminous  with  sin¬ 
cerity  and  every  manifestation  of  their  volition  is  trans¬ 
parently  bright.  Truthfulness  of  will  is  the  splendor 


218 


VIRTUES 


of  their  personal  glory,  might  and  beatitude.  Unde¬ 
ceived  and  undeceiving  is  their  progress  through  the 
spheres  of  eternity.  They  are  God-like,  for  thus  God 
wants  them  to  be. 

Looking  negatively  at  this  subject  we  notice  that 
unreliability  among  men  is  as  broad  as  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  This  constantly  disturbing  factor  exists  in 
all  our  human  relations.  If  it  is  conceded  to  anti- 
religionists  that  religion  is  an  individual  matter,  there 
is  all  the  more  reason  to  make  religion  not  only  a  social 
and  national  task,  but  a  task  of  the  whole  humanity, 
because  humanity,  in  its  social  and  national  structure, 
consists  of  individuals.  It  is  strange  how,  in  the  pan¬ 
theistic  or  naturalistic  mind,  the  personal  interest 
becomes  alive  in  spite  of  the  pretense  of  disbelief  in 
the  personality  of  the  soul.  Surely,  for  anyone  who 
does  not  accept  the  Voice  of  God  as  the  ruling  might, 
it  does  not  matter  what  we  really  are  and  what  we  are 
conscience-bound  to  do. 

In  all  our  human  contacts  we  demand  and  rely  on 
the  sincere  expression  of  the  human  will.  The  whole 
competence  of  all  worthy  achievements  depends  on  this 
voluntary  character  of  simplicity.  It  is  a  spiritual  power 
which  each  man  must  take  into  account  and  which  he 
so  longingly  expects  from  everybody. 

Unfortunately,  owing  to  the  low  state  of  conscience 
in  mankind,  sincerity  is  a  peculiar  stranger  among  men. 
In  any  relation  we  may  consider,  international,  national, 


SINCERITY  OF  THE  WILL 


219 


denominational,  social,  family  or  personal  relation,  the 
main  obstruction  to  mutual  understanding  is  the  lack 
of  sincerity,  the  lack  of  good  will,  the  lack  of  truth¬ 
fulness  of  motives  and,  consequently,  the  lack  of  the 
spiritual  competence  for  order  and  mutuality. 

It  is  patent,  that  if  we  omit  one  virtue  or  even  one 
character  of  any  virtue  in  our  life,  the  structure  of  our 
human  tendencies  becomes  insecure  and  always  ready 
to  fall  asunder.  There  cannot  be  any  true  progress 
and  stability  in  the  good  motives  of  men  until  greater 
efforts  are  made  for  the  cultivation  of  the  sincerity  of 
the  human  will.  And  this  cultivation  can  be  achieved 
only  by  a  profounder  insight  into  and  love  for  the 
Voice  of  God  in  us. 


VERACITY  OF  MIND 


As  the  will  follows  the  urgency  of  conscience  by 
virtue  of  sincerity,  thus  the  mind  attains  its  clearness 
by  virtue  of  veracity.  The  mind’s  intrinsic  purpose 
consists  in  its  truthful  adherence  to  Divine  Light.  This 
means  not  only  that  the  mind’s  formal  capacity  is  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  truthful  results,  but  also  that 
all  the  processes  of  its  perceiving  and  conceiving  efforts 
must  be  essentially  truthful. 

Truth  is  the  holy  aim  and  rule  of  our  cognitive 
forces.  Hence,  any  deviation  from  it  causes  the  mon¬ 
strosity  of  falsehood.  Truth  is  holy  and  glows  with 
simplicity.  Its  distinctness  is  as  clear  and  convincing 
as  its  might  is  sublime  and  binding.  Its  statements  are 
based  on  immovable  absoluteness,  which  endows  the 
truthful  mind  with  heavenly  power.  Its  might  consists 
in  the  adherence  to  Absolute  Truth,  by  which  each 
object  of  concept  is  presented  in  its  true  light.  It  per¬ 
mits  no  willful  extension  or  restriction  of  definition,  and 
denounces  all  untrue  interpretations. 

Veracity  is  the  most  exacting  motive  of  the  will 
pertaining  to  truth,  as  well  as  the  most  exacting  labor 
of  the  mind.  Consequently,  a  great  statement  of  truth 
is  a  holy  mark  of  great  worthiness. 

220 


VERACITY  OF  MIND 


221 


In  all  our  mental  endeavors,  conscience  is  the  holy 
reflector  of  truth.  Any  object  to  be  known  and  any 
judgment  to  be  passed  must  undergo  the  scrutiny  of  con¬ 
science.  It  demands  that  every  defect  of  mental  con¬ 
ception  be  corrected  and  every  indistinctness  removed. 
The  scrutinized  object  must  stand  in  its  own  light,  as 
the  Truth  of  God  defines  it,  without  anthropomorphic 
or  subjectivistic  adornment  or  other  alteration. 

Truthfulnes  is  practical  lucidity;  a  virtue  absolutely 
necessary  for  all  knowledge,  including  self-knowledge. 
An  intense  truthfulness  is  necessary  to  understand  God 
and  ourselves  as  well  as  our  relation  to  God  and  our 
fellow  beings.  The  lack  of  it  causes  untold  deceptions. 

The  assertion  of  our  affinity  to,  affiliation  with  and 
imitation  of  God  may  sound  to  many  rather  poetical 
or  merely  sentimental.  Yet  its  veracity  remains  incon¬ 
trovertible,  for  God  creates  no  voluntary,  conscious  and 
sentimental  being  which  does  not  possess  a  relative 
affinity  to  Him,  which  cannot  affiliate  with  Him  and 
which  cannot  imitate  His  holiest  Life.  His  Perfection 
demands  it,  His  Almightiness  is  potent  to  cause  it,  His 
sacrificial  Love  desires  it  and  His  Truth  proves  it. 

This  holy  fact  is  the  cause  of  the  truthfulness  of 
humility  toward  our  heavenly  Father.  Therefore,  our 
faith,  our  devotion  and  our  gratitude  must,  before  all, 
be  truthful  to  Him.  All  our  human  relations  are  a 
sequence  of  this  first  and  great  revelation.  A  life  with¬ 
out  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  would  be  not  only 


222 


VIRTUES 


unbearable  but  unthinkable.  It  would  be  worse  than 
hell,  for  even  in  the  lowest  stages  of  animal  life,  distant 
signs  of  this  great  life  are  noticeable. 

The  life  of  religion  is  a  life  of  distinct  veracity  and 
the  one  who  is  not  permeated  with  veracity  to  the  depth 
of  his  heart  is  far  from  being  truly  religious.  The  pro¬ 
fessed  atheist  who  possesses  due  righteous  insight  and 
truthfulness,  as  he  often  does,  especially  in  practical 
matters,  has  far  more  religion  in  his  heart  than  the 
execrable  hypocrite.  Pietism,  when  it  endeavors  to 
incline  our  hearts  to  God,  and  neglects  the  all-important 
factor  of  truthfulness,  bears  little  and  often  very  sickly 
fruit  in  religion.  Sacraments  are  of  no  avail  unless 
they  have  the  distinct  mark  of  divine  veracity. 

The  veracity  of  sacramental  life  lies  in  virtues,  for 
virtues  are  the  holy  outflow  of  the  holiest  attributes  of 
God,  the  witness-bearer  of  our  divine  childship  and 
the  proof  of  the  eternal  Fatherhood  of  God.  Virtues 
are  the  holy  bond  of  our  life  with  the  Life  of  God  in 
a  relation  which  is  most  intimate  and  sacramental. 
Each  virtuous  soul  will  testify  to  this  fact  and  joyfully 
seal  the  veracity  of  this  fact  with  his  life.  All  martyr¬ 
doms  are  achieved  by  virtue  of  the  veraciousness  of  the 
inward  sacramentality  of  our  life. 

Owing  to  its  veracity,  the  life  of  conscience  is  the 
truly  sacramental  life.  Here  God  speaks  directly  to 
the  soul  and  each  virtuous  soul  answers  directly  with 
its  whole  and  open  heart.  Only  the  false  soul  closes 


VERACITY  OF  MIND 


223 


its  ears,  pleads  impotence,  cowers  in  fear  and  does  not 
dare  to  disclose  the  inwardness  of  its  being. 

The  average  human  soul,  having  little  adoration  and 
love  of  truth,  except  as  an  instrument  for  personal 
advantage,  cannot  be  anything  else  but  unveracious. 
Hence,  it  juggles  with  its  thoughts  as  with  something 
unimportant  and  never  sees  the  path  of  life  clearly. 

Where  there  is  no  profound  inward  esteem  and  love 
of  conscience,  veracity  of  mind  and  character  are  impos¬ 
sible.  All  the  crimes  of  fanaticism,  of  political  perver¬ 
sions  and  of  social  and  personal  abuses  are  ascribable 
to  this  fact  mainly.  Where  the  might  of  divine  sim¬ 
plicity  is  not  present  the  duplicity  of  human  passions 
must  have  their  full  sway.  Then  everything  can  be 
perverted  and  twisted  until  the  very  soul  becomes  a 
caricature  of  its  original  divine  design. 

Our  whole  memory  must  be  concentrated  on  the 
one  fact  that  our  mind  is  made  for  truth  and  that  truth 
is  holy,  sacramental  and  simple;  that  each  thought  is 
a  representation  of  truth  or  of  falsehood. 

Truthfulness  is  the  conquering  weapon  of  fortitude; 
the  fiery  sword  that  never  fails.  The  soul  needs  no 
other  weapon,  either  for  attack  or  for  defense.  A  truth¬ 
ful  word  is  all-sufficient,  for  it  is  the  earnest  witness 
bearer  to  the  ultimate  and  infallible  judgment  of  God. 
The  face  of  the  truthful  man  is  as  frank  as  it  is  unyield¬ 
ing;  frank,  because  truth  shines  in  his  countenance, 


224 


VIRTUES 


and  unyielding,  because  of  his  unconquerable  power  of 
cleaving  to  the  Voice  of  God. 

RIoliness,  love  and  all  great  virtues  radiate  with 
truthfulness.  Its  inherent  genuineness  tests  every 
endeavor,  every  thought  and  every  sentiment  with  strict¬ 
est  scrutiny.  Even  in  solitude,  there  is  no  hiding  from 
its  might.  The  veracity  of  conscience  never  fails  in  its 
sublime  reproach  whenever  the  soul  fails  to  maintain 
the  great  dignity  bestowed  on  it  by  God. 

No  worthy  relations  are  possible  without  the  strictest 
truthfulness.  All  transactions  depend  upon  it.  Its  very 
simplicity  makes  its  demand  obvious  and  imperative. 
It  affects  our  inwardness  as  well  as  our  external  actions. 
Consequently,  only  consummate  truthfulness  brings 
security,  peace  and  blessedness.  A  good  will,  a  straight 
mind  and  a  pure  open  heart  are  all  that  truthfulness 
demands. 


MODESTY  OF  ATTITUDE 


The  final  character  of  the  virtue  of  simplicity  is 
modesty  of  attitude.  Sincerity  of  will  and  truthfulness 
of  mind  cause  the  inward  attitude  and  outward 
demeanor  which  mark  the  soul  as  the  true  child  of  God. 
Inward  attitude  is  the  manifestation  of  personal  dis¬ 
positions  and  motives,  and  its  modesty  derives  from  the 
state  of  absolute  dependency  from  God. 

The  soul  has  no  dignity  through  independent  voli¬ 
tion,  but  only  through  participation  in  the  majestic 
Mights  of  God;  therefore,  its  veracious  attitude  is  mod¬ 
esty,  the  highest  spiritual  refinement.  All  virtues 
maintain  this  spirit,  for  they  are  only  the  relative 
reflexes  of  the  eternal  magnificence  of  Divine  Attri¬ 
butes.  Thus,  the  more  potent  the  soul  is  in  virtues,  the 
more  modest  is  its  inner  attitude  and  its  outward 
demeanor.  It  is  humility  symbolized. 

Affinity  to  and  affiliation  with  God  causes  exalta¬ 
tion,  but  this  exaltation  is  profound  and  modest.  Faith 
is  the  humble  and  modest  leaning  on  Divine  might. 
Devotion  to  God  is  meek  and  modest  abandon  to  the 
eternal  perfections  of  God,  and  gratitude  the  sweetest 
and  most  modest  obligation  to  the  love  of  God. 

225 


226 


VIRTUES 


All  virtuous  energy,  perseverance  and  triumph  bears 
the  mark  of  modesty.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  boast¬ 
fulness  of  fortitude.  Fortitude  is  firm  but  never  boister¬ 
ous.  Even  blissfulness,  with  its  security,  peace  and 
joy,  is  permeated  with  modesty.  There  is  no  wildness 
in  true  joyousness. 

The  adhering  mind  to  Divine  Light  is  a  profound 
but  modestly  adhering  mind.  Truth  does  not  hear  our 
willful  command.  Its  holy  spirit  demands  that  we 
reach  out  for  it  intensely,  but  with  a  modest  attitude 
of  soul.  Attention  and  cleaving  to  the  eternal  Voice 
of  God  is  an  act  of  intrinsic  modesty. 

Thus  the  highly  virtuous  soul  is  the  living  fact  of 
simplicity,  the  last  expression  of  his  self-conscious 
inwardness.  He  pretends  nothing,  he  arrogates  nothing 
and  affects  nothing.  Everything  that  constitutes  his  pro¬ 
found  character  manifests  itself  by  its  own  power. 

Unmindful  of  the  perversity  and  misjudgment  of 
our  sinful  world,  he  bides  his  tune  till  the  final  judg¬ 
ment.  He  adds  no  fuel  to  the  vortex  of  passions  nor 
does  he  seek  vainly  to  impress  the  unworthy.  In  his 
contact  with  men  he  affects  no  proud  apathetic  equa¬ 
nimity  or  imperturbability,  but  is  actuated  by  the  beau¬ 
tiful  and  patient  spirit  of  modesty,  which  is  the  pos¬ 
session  of  the  truly  virtuous. 

Living  in  the  midst  of  guile  and  hypocrisy,  he  knows 
the  treachery  and  trickery  of  human  passions,  and,  if 
a  simple  protest  does  not  suffice,  he  gives  time  to  his 


MODESTY  OF  ATTITUDE 


227 


assailants  until  their  consciences  are  struck  by  God. 
He  is  filled  with  compassion  for  his  enemies,  for  he  is 
conscious  that  the  account  of  their  deeds  will  be  very 
painful  before  the  tribunal  of  Divine  Justice.  Hence, 
he  never  calls  upon  the  Lord  to  punish  them. 

Every  virtuous  soul  has  enemies.  If  they  do  not 
hate  him,  they  envy  or  fear  him.  Every  contrivance 
is  used  to  bring  him  into  discredit.  His  best  motives 
are  often  misrepresented,  in  order  to  give  them  the 
worst  interpretation.  Even  the  plainest  deeds  of  good¬ 
ness  are  attributed  to  selfishness;  for  the  wicked  hates 
everyone  who  is  far  above  him. 

There  is  but  little  room  for  a  virtuous  soul  on  this 
earth.  His  sincerity  of  will,  his  veracity  of  mind  and 
his  modesty  of  attitude,  with  their  inherent  power  of 
virtuous  spirituality,  furnish  too  great  a  contrast  with 
the  children  of  this  world.  The  silent  admonition 
which  a  life  of  virtuous  simplicity  manifests,  disturbs 
the  ambitious  craving  and  the  unclean  joys  of  human 
passions. 

Human  passions  are  so  assertive,  arrogant  and  often 
impudent  that  they  distort  everything  virtuous;  there¬ 
fore,  simplicity,  being  wholly  unostentatious  and  unas¬ 
sertive,  is  easily  assailed  by  them.  Simple-mindedness 
and  simple-heartedness  are  terms  frequently  used  to 
designate  ignorance  or  littleness  of  character,  whereas, 
in  reality,  simplicity  is  the  expression  of  the  worthiest 
self  -consciousness  and  character.  Knowing  its  con- 


228 


VIRTUES 


vincing  power,  false  souls  simulate  simplicity  in  their 
words  and  in  their  actions  as  a  sure  means  of  deception. 
Wickedness  is  never  so  certain  of  success  as  when  it 
is  able  to  assume  the  appearance  of  simplicity. 

Among  human  beings,  true  simplicity  is  the  most 
solitary,  the  most  suffering,  the  most  patient,  the  least 
understood  and  appreciated  and  the  most  misrepre¬ 
sented  virtue.  It  is  so  pure  and  delicate  that  it  escapes 
every  sense  of  the  passionate.  The  proud  and  vain  hate 
it,  the  greedy  disdain  it  and  the  lustful  abuse  it.  Its 
ethereal  power  shines  around  each  virtue,  pure,  inno¬ 
cent,  genuine,  meek  and  mild. 

Simplicity  is  full  of  respectfulness;  its  words  are 
clear,  unadorned  and  unhesitating;  and  its  sentiment 
is  candid,  engaging  and  free  from  impure  interest.  This 
virtue  reveals  the  truest  state  of  the  soul. 

The  soul  itself  is  a  simple  spiritual  structure,  indeed, 
the  simplest  structure  in  creation.  Its  essential  forces 
are  will,  intellect  and  sentiment,  with  their  inherent  and 
sacred  purpose  for  holiness,  truth  and  love.  That  the 
soul  be  held  and  guided  to  this  holy  purpose  God 
endows  it  with  conscience,  the  might  of  His  Divine 
Superspirit,  and  the  absolute  urger,  illuminator  and 
attracter  of  worthy  determinations,  thinking  and 
feeling. 

In  view  of  this  living  fact,  incontrovertible  by  any 
human  science  or  practice,  it  is  evident  that  the  right 
attitude  of  the  soul  is  profound  humility,  with  its  most 


MODESTY  OF  ATTITUDE 


229 


veracious  expression  of  modesty.  The  man  with  any 
sense  of  truth  cannot  fail  to  realize  this  fact  within 
himself.  And  why  is  it  that  man  does  not  heed  this 
fundamental  fact?  Because  he  is  not  and  does  not 
want  to  be  inwardly  sincere,  truthful  and  modest. 

Such  a  demand  imposes  absolute  prohibition  of  his 
own  passions,  which  he  loves  more  than  anything  else 
in  his  life.  In  spite  of  his  inward  feeling  to  the  con¬ 
trary,  he  attempts  to  convince  himself  that  following 
the  letter  of  the  law,  as  much  as  one  can,  is  sufficient 
for  a  generally  honorable  life.  Everything  else  is 
supposed  to  be  a  matter  of  personal  sentiment  which 
he  may  follow  if  he  likes  or  discard  when  he  chooses. 
Thus  his  individual  logic  consists  in  the  segregation  of 
his  private  affairs  from  the  collective  duties  of  con¬ 
science. 

Only  when  a  severe  disappointment  strikes  his  heart, 
inflated  with  worldly  fortunes,  does  he  begin  to  see 
and  suffer  from  the  complexity  of  his  questionable 
efforts.  Then  he  does  take  the  time  to  survey  the 
insincerity  and  untruthfulness  of  human  actions,  and 
sometimes  even  of  his  own.  And  then  he  himself 
becomes  more  modest  and  more  amenable  to  a  broader 
spirit  of  mutuality. 

There  can  be  no  spirit  of  mutuality  where  sincerity, 
truthfulness  and  modesty  are  not  the  guiding  motives 
of  man.  Without  these  characters  of  simplicity  every¬ 
thing  can  be  pretended,  concealed  or  simulated;  no 


230 


VIRTUES 


righteous  covenant  or  agreement  can  be  effected  and 
no  harmony  among  men  installed.  Simplicity  deals 
with  facts  and  facts  are  the  living  expressions  of  our 
determination. 

For  this  reason  this  virtue  necessarily  involves  all  our 
motives,  all  our  thoughts  and  all  our  sentiments.  As 
the  whole  greatness  of  the  soul  is  seen  through  its  sim¬ 
plicity,  thus  the  whole  baseness  of  the  soul  is  seen 
through  its  duplicity.  There  is  no  complete  reliance 
on  anybody  unless  he  possesses  sincerity  of  will,  truth¬ 
fulness  of  mind  and  modesty  of  attitude,  the  spiritual 
prism  of  true  character. 


VIRTUES  OF  THE  HEART 


Tke  heart  is  the  spiritual  vessel  of  our  life.  All  that 
our  will,  through  its  self-consciousness  and  conscious¬ 
ness,  has  determined  to  attain  lies  in  the  heart  as  its 
chosen  possession,  its  real  property.  God  does  not  and 
man  cannot  change  these  sentimental  possessions  unless 
the  self-conscious  will  consents. 

The  will  is  the  master  of  its  sentimental  complex. 
It  is  its  own  personal  work  and  its  whole  life’s  achieve¬ 
ment,  for  all  the  will  does  is  for  the  sake  of  its  self- 
sentiency,  the  state  of  its  fruitional  life.  In  its  sentiment 
the  self-conscious  will  sees  distinctly  and  feels  most 
palpably  the  effects  of  its  worthy  or  unworthy  power, 
and  sounds  and  estimates  its  life  accordingly. 

If  the  self-conscious  will  recognizes  and  whole¬ 
heartedly  accepts  its  affinity  to  God,  its  task  of  affilia¬ 
tion  with  God  and  imitation  of  Divine  Life  becomes 
the  most  important  task  of  its  life,  and  humility  its 
profoundest  tendency.  In  the  faith  in  God  lies  the 
greatest  glory,  in  devotion  to  God  the  greatest  power 
and  in  gratitude  to  God  the  greatest  blessing  of  the 
soul. 


231 


232 


VIRTUES 


Faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  are  the  most  insistent, 
most  visible  and  most  tangible  and  universal  virtuous 
powers  which  enter  into  every  relation  of  our  life.  A 
soul  devoid  of  any  faith,  of  any  devotion  and  of  any 
gratitude,  a  being  without  a  trace  of  conscience,  would 
be  a  monster  which  even  the  imagination  cannot  con¬ 
ceive. 

The  definition  of  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  is 
given  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  virtues  of  the  will.  We 
have  seen  their  spiritual  development  in  the  virtue  of 
fortitude  and  the  spiritual  effect  in  the  virtue  of  bliss¬ 
fulness.  We  have  seen  the  intrinsic  connection  and 
importance  of  these  characters  of  humility  in  all  our 
mental  forces,  endowing  us  with  the  mental  tendency 
to  God,  with  wisdom  and  simplicity,  in  which  instance 
the  whole  activity  of  our  consciousness  relatively  to  con¬ 
science  arrives  at  its  full  mental  capacity  and  evolution. 
All  that  remains  to  be  seen  is  the  final  sentimental 
effect,  the  revelation  of  the  virtuous  heart  caused  by 
humility. 

There  are  three  distinct  virtues  pertaining  to  the 
heart:  the  virtue  of  love ,  the  virtue  of  righteousness 
and  the  virtue  of  goodness. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  LOVE 


Psychologically,  love  is  the  realization  of  the  motives 
of  the  self-conscious  will.  This  realization  is  the  ten¬ 
dency  to  spiritual  self-sentiency.  In  other  words,  what 
the  self-conscious  will  wants  and  what  it  is  searching 
for  is  self-sentiency,  the  fruitional  effectuation  of  its 
life.  The  soul  cannot  be  satisfied  with  volitional  and 
visual  powers  without  attaining  their  sentimental  object, 
the  fruitional  self-sentiency  which  constitutes  the  most 
effective  reality  of  life. 

The  soul  endeavors  to  see  the  objects  of  life  in  order 
to  obtain  them,  to  possess  them  as  its  own,  as  part  of  its 
riches,  power  and  fruition.  This  constitutes  its  inherent 
tendency  to  self-sentiency.  But  the  direction  to  this 
self-sentiency  differs  according  to  the  original  standpoint 
the  soul  has  taken  with  respect  to  the  highest  dignity 
and  purpose  of  life. 

The  glorious  standpoint  of  our  life  consists  in  the 
acceptance  of  the  eternal  sacrifice  of  God,  the  absolute 
Love  of  God,  by  virtue  of  which  we  are  created  in 
affinity  to  Him  and  endowed  with  the  spiritual  power 
of  affiliation  with  Him  and  of  imitating  His  Own 
holiest  Life.  This  holiest  sacrifice  and  the  acceptance 

233 


234 _ VIRTUES _ 

\ 

of  it  constitutes  the  glorious  participation  in,  cooperation 
with  and  affirmation  of  the  Life  of  God  within  our 
spiritual  being  and,  consequently,  the  affirmation  of  our¬ 
selves  in  God.  Therein  consists  the  essence  of  our 
dependence  from  God  and  the  profoundest  verdict  of 
conscience  reveals  this  real  and  incontrovertible  fact. 
For  if  we  do  not  accept  this  most  glorious  standpoint, 
there  remains  nothing  but  the  unavoidable  alternative, 
a  life  without  God  and  without  conscience,  the  inde¬ 
pendent  source  of  ignominy,  confusion,  strife  and 
despair. 

The  sacrificial  Love  of  God  is  the  eternal  source 
and  prototype  of  the  virtue  of  love.  Each  Divine  act 
is  an  act  of  sacrifice  and  it  is  precisely  this  sacrifice 
which  the  soul  must  imitate  in  order  to  attain  immortal 
honor  and  merit.  Difficult  and  almost  impossible  as 
this  demand  of  conscience  appears  to  the  average  man, 
he  yet  knows  that  if  sacrifice  does  not  prompt  the 
deed  that  deed  is  selfish  and  worthless.  All  his  judg¬ 
ments  pertaining  to  personal  merit  are  based  on  the 
sacrificial  sense  within  him.  Everybody  has  frequent 
glimpses  and  feeling  of  this  exalted  virtue,  but  only  very 
few  have  a  profound  and  serious  interest  in  it. 

Pure  love  manifests  itself  mainly  through  profound 
affection  for  the  might,  splendor  and  efficiency  of  vir¬ 
tues.  Humility,  by  virtue  of  its  faith  in  and  devotion 
and  gratitude  to  God,  is  the  most  inward  power  of  love 
which  the  soul  possesses.  It  emanates  from  the  sacri- 


LOVE 


235 


ficial  act  of  Divine  Love,  and  thus  constitutes  the  sub- 
limest  cause  of  those  motives  through  which  the  Love 
of  God  is  answered  and  the  reciprocal  sacrifice  of  the 
soul’s  own  being  to  God  is  accomplished.  Conse¬ 
quently,  the  love  for  God  is  the  holiest,  the  pro- 
foundest  the  most  exalting,  the  mightiest,  the  most  bless¬ 
ing,  the  truest,  the  wisest,  the  sincerest,  the  most 
sacrificial,  the  most  just  and  the  most  beautiful  and 
endearing  love. 

H  aving  thus  a  general  understanding  of  the  inward 
might  of  love,  let  us  now  consider  its  characters  of 
sacrificial  motives ,  charitable  sentiments  and  universal 
cosympath y  and  chastity. 


SACRIFICIAL  MOTIVES 


Our  soul  is  the  issue  of  the  absolute  Love  of  God, 
of  His  Divine  sacrificial  motives  and,  therefore,  is  im¬ 
pregnated  with  that  same  spirit  as  the  highest  motive  of 
our  life.  Even  in  the  broadest  application  each  crea¬ 
ture  in  some  degree  possesses  an  affinity  to  its  Creator 
through  which  it  reveals  this  ’inward  spirit  and  power. 

Accordingly,  the  Superspirit  of  holy  sacrifice,  being 
the  supreme  motive  of  the  existence  of  the  soul, 
demands,  by  the  very  right  to  this  existence,  the  spirit 
of  sacrifice  in  the  soul  as  the  one  most  righteous,  most 
benevolent  and  immortal  spirit  of  our  whole  life. 

That  this  sacrificial  spirit  is  the  supreme  and  real 
issue  in  our  life  is  proved  in  all  our  daily  activities  and 
in  all  our  thinking  and  longing.  We  know  that  unless 
our  deed  is  evidently  sacrificial  we  are  suspected  or 
accused  of  selfishness.  We  know  that  unless  our 
thoughts  or  words  are  clear  and  truthful  relatively  to 
our  motives  the  issue  at  stake  is  distrusted.  And  we 
know  that  unless  sentiments  are  supported  by  sacrificial 
deeds  they  are  not  believed  and  impart  no  conviction. 

What  we  are  always  searching  for,  what  we  always 
love  to  see  and  what  the  heart  is  always  longing  to 
attain  is  this  very  spirit  of  sacrifice,  that  breath  of 

236 


SACRIFICIAL  MOTIVES 


237 

Divinity  and  the  positive  revelation  of  our  divine  child- 
ship.  This  spirit  is  so  intrinsically  interwoven  in  our 
whole  life,  that,  in  spite  of  the  human  dispositions  to 
the  contrary,  it  often  impels  us,  like  a  suppressed  fire, 
to  deeds  worthy  of  a  better  cause.  Sacrifices  of  life 
and  means  are  offered  in  inhuman  wars,  to  vain  ambi¬ 
tions  and  lust.  And  all  this  comes  so  easily  and  is 
done  with  such  abandon  that  even  the  wicked  may  well 
believe  that  sacrifice  is  the  real  issue  of  life. 

But  sacrifice  is  holy,  charitable,  righteous  and  full 
of  benevolence.  It  is  not  an  instrument  for  the  low 
satiation  of  human  passions,  but  a  fruition  of  Life 
Divine.  Such  fruition  is  essentially  humble,  because 
it  partakes  in  Divine  Life.  It  is  the  supreme  fruition 
of  faith  in  the  Absolute,  the  prototypical  Holiness, 
Truth  and  Love  of  God.  It  constitutes  the  supreme 
fruition  of  devotion  and  gratitude  to  God,  as  our  eternal 
Creator,  Lord  and  Father,  the  most  devoted  Father  to 
H  is  faithful  child,  to  whom  the  eternity  of  His  own 
Life  is  opened. 

This  holy  fruition  of  sacrifice  is  the  immutable  and 
inexhaustible  source  of  fearless  and  triumphant  power. 
It  never  bends  before  an  unworthy  spirit  and  wants  no 
other  taste  of  power  than  that  of  the  sacrificial  might 
of  God.  For  the  might  of  God  is  the  only  sufficient 
and  blessing  power  of  life. 

The  fruition  of  sacrifice  is  the  most  powerful  incen¬ 
tive  to  profoundest  and  boundless  visions,  the  living 


238 


VIRTUES 


source  of  wisdom  and  the  most  trustful  supporter  of 
simplicity.  No  soul  can  attain  great  visions  without 
the  prompting  of  sacrificial  sentiments;  no  soul  can  be 
permeated  with  great  visions  without  sacrificial  motives. 
Nor  can  any  man  without  these  motives  possess  the 
power  of  true  wisdom  and  simplicity. 

God  as  our  God,  our  Lord  and  our  eternal  Father, 
is  the  absolute  Super-Being  of  eternal  love,  and,  as 
such,  justly  and  rightly  demands  the  supreme  con¬ 
centration  of  our  love  on  H  im.  Our  love  of  God  is 
the  effect  of  our  eternal  allegiance  to  Him.  There  is 
nothing  in  heaven  or  beneath  it  which  makes  our  love 
so  imperative  and  exacting  as  the  bond  of  love  with 
God.  All  heavenly  friendships  and  all  solemn  vows 
are  based  on  it  and  rendered  sacred  by  it.  To  maintain 
this  holy  bond,  no  adoration  dares  to  surpass  or  equal 
the  adoration  of  God,  for  His  Holiness,  His  Truth 
and  His  Love  are  absolutely  the  most  adorable. 

Having  sacrifice  as  its  ground,  the  virtue  of  love 
is  supereminently  righteous,  and  extends  its  affection 
according  to  the  eternal  rule  of  righteousness.  Thus, 
the  more  worthy  and  estimable  the  object,  the  pro¬ 
founder,  nearer  and  more  tender  is  love;  and,  the  less 
worthy  the  object,  the  less  profound,  more  distant  and 
less  affectionate  it  is.  The  failure  to  observe  this 
righteous  rule  of  love  causes  untold  difficulties  and 
hindrances  in  our  spiritual  progress. 

In  the  application  of  this  rule  the  virtuous  soul 


SACRIFICIAL  MOTIVES  239 

evolves  and  manifests  his  fortitude.  Nothing  hinders 
him  from  reaching  out  for  the  righteous  love.  Regard¬ 
less  of  how  painful  the  achievement  may  be,  he  wishes 
his  heart  to  be  in  that  worthy  and  virtuous  position 
where  God  wants  it  to  be.  He  keeps  himself  free  from 
*  all  sentimental  entanglements  and  indulgences,  that  his 
heart  may  remain  strong  and  unimpeded  whenever  the 
Voice  of  God  calls  him  to  be  a  herald  of  virtuous  mis¬ 
sion  ;  for  only  a  powerful  heart,  filled  with  the  intensest 
motive  to  participate  in  Divine  Mights,  is  able  to 
achieve  great  virtuous  deeds. 

Each  Divine  Might  is  a  particular  fountain  of  holy 
love,  of  which  the  virtuous  soul  partakes.  At  the 
beginning  of  virtuous  attainments,  the  soul  chooses  one 
or  a  few  Divine  Attributes  as  the  supreme  objects  of 
adoration  and  love;  for  the  vacant  heart  longs  to  be 
filled  at  least  with  a  part  of  Divine  Life.  It  begins 
with  the  most  expressive  virtues,  those  which  are  the 
partial  manifestation  of  humility,  the  most  difficult  virtue 
for  the  human  soul  to  attain. 

Thus  it  usually  begins  with  sincere  benevolence  and 
generosity,  with  cheerfulness,  patience  and  enthuiasm. 
Thence  it  rises  to  the  much  stricter  virtue  of  righteous¬ 
ness  in  deeds,  thoughts  and  feelings  toward  God  and 
fellow  creatures.  As  it  becomes  more  powerful  with 
each  advance,  the  heart  grows  in  profounder  desires. 

With  growing  intensity  it  longs  for  sacrifice  in  order 
to  give  a  distinct  proof  of  its  worthiness.  The  rising 


240 


VIRTUES 


conscience  keeps  constant  survey  of  the  soul’s  motives 
and  directs  them  to  profounder  virtues.  1  he  ascending 
heart  longs  to  be  simple,  that  it  may  deceive  neither 
itself,  nor  anyone  else.  It  desires  intensely  the  great 
might  of  wisdom,  in  order  to  be  most  efficient  in  the 
fulfillment  of  virtuous  life,  and  it  rivets  its  eye  on  the 
eternal  Light  of  God,  strains  its  ear  to  the  eternal  Voice 
of  God  and  cleaves  to  them  with  the  immovable  con¬ 
stancy  of  absolute  faith.  Ail  this  it  does  in  order  to 
understand  God  in  the  ineffable  might  and  dominion 
of  His  Holiness,  Truth  and  Love. 

Having  thus  risen  to  the  apex  of  eternal  Light,  the 
soul,  endowed  with  so  many  virtues,  cries  for  their 
most  inward  reality.  Its  heart  longs  to  be  permeated 
with  the  security,  peace  and  joy  of  heaven  and  this  can 
only  be  attained  through  the  all-conquering  virtue  of 
fortitude. 

Now  all  preceding  virtues  become  inspired  with  still 
greater  power.  With  unrestrained  energy  for  holiness, 
with  immutable  perseverance  in  all  holy  attainments 
and  with  continuous  triumph  over  every  hindrance  to 
holiness,  the  virtuous  hero  stands  at  the  eternal  portals 
of  consummate  humility,  the  heaven  of  divine  affilia¬ 
tion. 

This  is  the  ascent  to  God  of  the  soul  strayed  from 
His  holy  presence,  the  ascent  of  love,  everlastingly 
inviting,  enlightening,  fortifying  and  sanctifying;  the 
one  supreme,  pure  love,  the  summit  of  all  virtuous 


_ SACRIFICIAL  MOTIVES  241 

desires  and  the  eternal  spring  which  quenches  the  burn¬ 
ing  thirst  for  holy  life. 

The  faith  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  arises  mainly 
from  the  love  of  God;  for  immortality  is  far  less  a 
question  of  knowledge,  than  of  our  inmost  dignity  and 
interest.  A  will  without  virtuous  motives  has  of  logical 
necessity  but  little  or  no  interest  in  personal  immortality. 
A  mind  without  virtue  prefers  to  doubt  or  even  to  deny 
immortality,  for  the  responsibility  of  a  virtuous  life  dis¬ 
turbs  its  willful  self-consciousness.  And  a  heart  with¬ 
out  virtue  subconsciously  feels  that  it  is  not  worthy  of 
immortal  life,  or  it  fears  the  consequences  of  an 
unworthy  life  which,  through  supreme  justice,  are  bound 
to  come.  Consequently,  it  endeavors  to  soothe  its 
inward  anxiety  with  the  vain  persuasion  that  death  ends 
everything. 

Everything  dies  and  yet  everything  lives.  In  all  its 
expressions  the  perpetuity  of  life  is  so  conspicuous  and 
insisting  that  in  itself,  it  is  the  motive  power  of  all  our 
endeavors,  researches  and  desires.  All  our  tasks  and 
work  are  done  for  the  sake  of  future  life.  The  unbe¬ 
liever  in  immortality  is  bound  to  face  the  most  desperate 
and  absurd  consequences.  He  must  believe  that  the 
whole  human  progress,  the  ever-increasing  efforts  for 
greater  light,  the  struggle  for  righteousness,  the  earned 
dignity  of  the  worthy,  our  rising  spiritual  education,  the 
most  cherished  friendships,  and  everything  worthy  of 
love,  have  but  one  distinct  aim,  namely  the  aim  of 


242 


VIRTUES 


the  absolute  personal  death;  the  destruction  of  every¬ 
thing  worthy,  most  obvious  and  dearest. 

Immortality  is  the  very  pulsation  of  personal  life, 
and,  being  the  issue  of  the  eternal  Love  of  God,  it 
must  be  loved  with  the  whole  heart  in  order  to  be 
clearly  understood.  Its  most  vital  ground  is  our  par¬ 
ticipation  in  the  eternal  Life  of  God.  If  we  do  not 
understand  this  supreme  fact  then,  indeed,  immortality 
remains  enigmatical. 

Participation  in  Divine  Life  is  the  fundamental  proof 
of  immortality,  for  it  presents  to  us  both  the  sacrificial 
cause  and  the  sublimest  aim  of  the  soul’s  existence, 
without  which  cause  and  aim  neither  immortality  nor 
life  itself  can  be  rationally  conceived.  All  other  argu¬ 
ments,  metaphysical  and  psychological,  only  indicate 
immortality,  but  the  real  reason  for  it  lies  in  the  partici¬ 
pation  in  Divine  life.  Religious  subjects  require  the 
strictest  logic.  If  the  logic  of  our  immortal  dignity 
and  love  is  not  sufficient,  then  the  mere  circumstantial 
logic  is  of  small  avail. 

The  most  palpable  and  convincing  proof  of  every¬ 
thing  is  dignity  and  love,  and  not  the  idea  of  it.  The 
idea  only  indicates  and  presents.  It  is  a  definition,  not 
a  tangibility  and  concreteness.  The  substantiality  of 
the  soul  proves  itself  far  more  through  the  contact  with 
and  adherence  to  the  Absolute,  than  through  the  vision 
of  the  Absolute.  Owing  to  this  fact,  those  who  do 
not  love  the  worthiest  content  of  life  with  their  whole 


SACRIFICIAL  MOTIVES 


243 

hearts  cannot  attain  a  clear  understanding  of  immortal 
life. 

Each  soul  wants  to  live  everlastingly,  though,  on 
account  of  its  religious  ignorance,  it  does  not  clearly 
know  why.  The  Superspirit  of  the  eternal  Love  of 
God  causes  this  desire  in  the  soul  and  feeds  it  inces¬ 
santly  ;  consequently  death  does  not  destroy  this  desire, 
it  only  intensifies  it.  If  only  a  few  sparks  of  worthiness 
are  in  the  soul,  love  follows  them  regardless  of  all 
barriers  of  death. 

Sparks  of  worthiness  are  the  distant  issue  of  the  sacri¬ 
fice  of  Divine  Love;  the  assurance  to  the  weak  soul 
that  God  has  not  deserted  even  the  little  ones.  In  the 
attachment  of  the  soul  to  worthy  acts,  though  little  in 
themselves,  God  forever  implants  His  eternal  promise 
of  a  greater  and  more  beautiful  life.  Were  it  not  for 
this  transcendent  promise,  humanity  would  have  a  right 
to  fall  into  despair  and  to  annihilate  itself. 

This  assurance  of  immortality  has  always  been  the 
most  cherished  promise  of  the  prophets  and  mystics  and 
still  is  the  most  interesting  and  attractive  subject  to  all 
leaders  of  souls.  All  temples  in  all  places  resound  with 
this  eternal  promise.  And  why?  Because  it  is  the 
most  inward  promise  of  the  love  of  sacrifice  which, 
within  itself,  contains  charity,  justice  and  goodness  as 
the  eternal  mights  of  immortal  life.  Eliminate  these 
mights  from  our  life,  and  then,  indeed,  the  belief  in  the 
soul’s  death  is  logical  and  justifiable.  Against  such 


244 


VIRTUES 


an  assumption  a  great  poet  cried  out  desperately : 
“Satan,  seize  my  soul  that  I  may  not  perish!”  The 
might  of  sacrifice  so  strongly  affects  the  soul  that  the 
denial  of  its  immortality  elicits  most  extreme  sentiments. 

No  one  feels  the  might  of  sacrifice  so  strongly  as  the 
virtuous.  To  him  it  is  the  most  powerful  and  expressive 
might  of  his  heart.  He  wants  it  with  all  the  power 
of  his  will.  He  wants  his  self-consciousness  to  be 
permeated  with  this  holy  might  and  his  heart  consum¬ 
mately  attached  to  it.  He  wants  to  live,  to  work,  to 
suffer  and  to  die  for  the  sake  of  sacrifice,  for  sacrifice 
is  the  highest  manifestation  of  his  dignity,  of  his  sublime 
intellect,  of  his  beautiful  heart  and  the  undeceiving 
expression  of  his  spirit  of  humility  and  love  for  God. 
In  this  act  God  recognizes  His  true  and  faithful  child 
and  leads  him  into  the  glory  and  beatitude  of  His 
intimate  Eternity. 


CHARITABLE  SENTIMENTS 


The  power  of  application  of  sacrificial  dispositions 
and  deeds  consists  in  the  virtuous  character  of  charity, 
for  charity  is  the  active  spirit  of  sacrifice.  Through 
this  character  the  sacrificial  motives  and  sentiments  are 
continually  seeking  for  ways  and  means  by  which  to 
bring  their  virtuous  power  into  action. 

Charity  is  the  ever  open  field  of  exercise  and  growth 
for  the  faithful,  devoted  and  grateful  heart.  There 
are  no  limitations  to  the  growth  of  faith,  devotion  and 
gratitude.  Their  potency  arises  from  God  and  extends 
over  the  whole  creation. 

Whenever  the  spirit  of  charity  is  on  the  decline 
among  men,  all  the  spiritual  achievements  of  humanity 
are  arrested  and  also  decline.  Then  the  dark  spirit 
of  pride  and  selfishness  stealthily  raises  its  head  and 
surveys  the  field  of  its  prey.  Owing  to  this  constant 
danger,  no  character  of  virtue  has  been  so  insistently 
urged  from  the  temples  of  religion  as  charity.  Its  voice 
is  not  only  an  urging  to  uphold  human  mutuality,  but 
also  and  mainly  an  urging  to  uphold  the  spiritual  honor, 
wisdom  and  love  in  the  heart  of  man.  Where  these 
virtues  dwell  human  mutuality  is  the  logical  conse¬ 
quence. 

On  the  other  hand  no  remorse  of  conscience  is  as 
keen  as  the  one  caused  by  the  total  absence  or  habitual 
neglect  of  the  spirit  of  charity.  Regardless  of  how 

245 


246 


VIRTUES 


a  man  may  try  to  forget  or  to  replace  this  conscience¬ 
stirring  sentiment  by  selfish  satisfactions,  the  reproach 
“Thou  hast  done  nothing  good  in  thy  life,’’  constantly 
reappears  in  his  self-consciousness  denouncing  the  base¬ 
ness  of  his  living  standpoint.  It  is  the  good  that  charity 
demands,  because  the  good  is  the  result  of  sacrificial 
action  and  the  distribution  of  the  good  to  the  weaker 
souls  is  the  foremost  duty  of  the  stronger. 

The  virtuous  soul  is  always  moved  with  sincere 
affection  towards  his  equal  and  with  compassion  toward 
all  who  are  beneath  him.  He  is  conscious  that,  regard¬ 
less  of  how  low  a  soul  has  fallen,  the  spark  of  divine 
fire  and  light  is  not  wholly  extinguished.  This  spark 
he  endeavors  to  reanimate  with  inward  sympathy,  and 
strives  to  implant  light  and  warmth  into  the  dark  and 
cold  soul,  in  order  to  revive  the  sense  of  deeper  senti¬ 
ments  and  to  awaken  its  self-consciousness  to  religious 
responsibility.  If  he  fails  he  turns  away  with  sadness 
and  appeals  to  God’s  mercy.  If  he  succeeds  he  offers 
gratitude  to  God  for  the  honor  of  cooperation. 

This  cosympathy  makes  his  rigor  of  justice  gentler, 
his  firmness  more  attractive  and  his  persuasion  more 
winning.  Nothing  is  more  revolting  to  him  than  the 
brutal  ruthlessness  with  which  the  unvirtuous  man  pro¬ 
ceeds  in  the  name  of  right.  All  motives  and  sentiments 
must  be  charitable  and  never  lose  respect  for  the  lower 
brother,  for  even  the  worst  soul  is  capable  of  accom¬ 
plishing  some  little  good. 


CHARITABLE  SENTIMENTS 


247 


Moreover,  the  charitable  man  endeavors  to  search 
more  for  the  good  than  for  the  evil  intentions,  that  he 
be  sure  of  forming  a  just  judgment.  Not  until  the 
evil  intention  is  clear,  does  he  apply  commensurate 
precaution  and  reserve,  and  only  in  very  important 
issues  does  he  take  the  aggressive.  If  attacked  unjustly 
he  defends  himself  by  a  simple  protest  and  truthful 
statement.  His  conscience  being  tender,  his  expressions 
will  oftener  be  gentle  than  forceful.  The  manifestation 
of  the  power  of  the  virtuous  character  is  less  understood 
and  is  sometimes  frightening,  while  gentleness  is  always 
ingratiating. 

The  virtuous  man  begins  with  his  own  heart.  He 
first  introduces  spiritual  order  in  himself.  His  inclina¬ 
tions  and  dispositions  are  subordinated  under  the  strict 
supervision  and  direction  of  conscience,  for  this  order 
constitutes  the  power  of  his  heart.  Precisely  the  same 
is  done  with  his  thoughts.  They,  too,  must  follow  the 
sublime  dictates  of  the  Voice  of  God. 

Once  this  determination  is  settled,  he  decides  on  such 
external  conditions  of  life  as  disturb  the  least  and 
enhance  most  effectually  his  virtuous  progress.  Wordly 
ambitions  and  luxuries  are  rejected  as  unworthy  of  any 
consideration,  and  all  his  time  and  efforts  are  devoted 
to  the  serious  task  of  virtuous  life.  Moreover,  the 
beautiful  joy  of  helping  others  on  the  path  of  spiritual 
progress  surpasses  all  the  questionable  and  vanishing 
pleasures  he  has  denied  himself. 


248 


VIRTUES 


Through  Divine  Love  the  soul  is  born  and  in  charity 
it  expands  its  life.  Accordingly,  all  its  sentiments 
yearn  for  the  achievement  of  the  highest  good,  that 
they  be  worthy  of  their  holy  aim.  Nothing  holy  grows 
without  charity.  As  the  course  of  sacrifice,  it  fills  all 
phases  and  spheres  of  the  universe.  There  is  no  soul 
which  does  not  love  charity,  and  which  does  not  feel 
the  inward  longing  for  and  the  need  of  it. 

Spiritual  charity  surpasses  material  charity  as  the 
day  surpasses  the  night,  for  it  consists  in  an  intimate 
soul-to-soul  contact.  Each  word  of  its  spirit  appeals 
to  the  profoundest  and  noblest  sensibilities.  It  awakens, 
lifts,  encourages  and  leads  the  soul  to  worthier  and 
sublimer  life.  It  makes  a  friend  out  of  a  stranger  and 
a  brother  out  of  a  friend.  Its  might  is  the  most  ingra¬ 
tiating  and  the  most  binding. 

Charity  is  the  most  practical  worker  of  the  virtuous 
heart,  the  nourishment  of  the  soul  and  the  most  palpable 
taste  of  heaven.  Happy  is  the  poor  in  material  means 
when  he  divides  his  frugal  meal  with  the  hungry  or 
gives  his  warm  garment  to  the  shivering.  The  most 
luxurious  indulgence  on  earth  can  furnish  nothing  to 
compare  with  his  lasting  gladness.  And  truly  unhappy 
is  he  who  has  missed  or  avoided  the  joys  which  are 
attained  through  sacrifice. 

Far  more  difficult  to  understand  are  the  deeds  of 
internal  charity.  Admirable  as  are  the  frequent  char¬ 
itable  services  to  mankind  in  hospitals  or  on  battlefields, 


CHARITABLE  SENTIMENTS 


249 

they  do  not  equal  the  incessant  efforts  demanded  by 
the  charitable  solicitude  of  those  silent  workers  and 
virtuous  leaders  who,  for  the  spiritual  weal  of  humanity, 
sacrifice  every  means  and  every  moment  of  their  lives. 

Charity  is  full  of  thoughtfulness,  and,  in  all  of  its 
considerations,  that  of  worthiness  is  foremost.  It  seeks 
first  for  the  right  estimate  of  the  soul,  that  its  judgment 
may  be  true  to  conscience.  The  childship  of  God  is 
the  lens  of  its  vision.  It  tests  the  sentiments,  ideas  and 
motives  according  to  the  Will  of  God  and,  accordingly, 
it  either  approaches  the  soul  in  the  spirit  of  friendship 
or  else  it  remains  reserved. 

Into  its  intimate  life  charity  receives  nothing  impure 
and  selfish.  It  wants  to  live  in  the  atmosphere  and 
order  of  holy  deeds,  because  it  is  itself  a  performer  of 
holy  deeds.  It  judges  each  station  of  life  according 
to  its  sacred  aims  and  extends  its  deep-felt  sympathy 
for  the  virtuous  performance  of  sacred  duties.  It  longs 
to  see  each  soul  the  equal  of  the  best  and  everywhere 
it  works  with  this  purpose. 

Charity  is  the  sublime  spirit  of  our  social  laws  and 
the  legal  establishments  which  do  not  sustain  this  spirit 
incur  the  danger  of  destruction.  This  spirit  is  so  sensi¬ 
tive  that  if  there  is  no  charitable  power  to  sustain  human 
order,  the  heart  becomes  desperate,  takes  recourse  in 
vengeance  and  assails  those  who  have  the  means  to 
practise  charity  and  fail  to  do  so.  If  our  legal  estab- 


250 _ _ VIRTUES _ 

lishments  lack  the  charitable  spirit  of  religion,  the  legal 
structure  crumbles,  owing  to  its  soulless  rigidity. 

Ideals  without  charity  are  the  monstrous  imaginings 
of  perverted  intellects,  the  fiction  of  cruel  hearts,  which 
in  their  insatiable  greed  and  lust  for  power  devour  what 
has  no  means  of  self-defense.  The  soul  without  charity 
always  mocks  goodness  and  tramples  on  righteousness. 

Owing  to  our  miserable  intellectual  education  we 
fail  to  notice  that  charity  is  strictly  interwoven  with 
metaphysical  thinking.  Each  thought,  theoretical  or 
practical,  pertains  to  the  self-consciousness  of  the  will, 
that  it  be  able  to  attain  the  sublimest  sentiments.  Truth 
without  love  would  be  horrible.  There  is  no  other 
aim  in  thinking  save  that  each  theoretical  thought,  in 
its  logical  deduction,  shall  bear  witness  to  the  divine 
effect  of  life,  which  is  love.  It  must  be  thus,  for  without 
the  motive  of  this  divine  effect,  no  theory  of  love  and 
charity  can  be  realized. 

It  is  a  justifiable  criticism  of  metaphysics  that  thus 
far  it  has  not  evolved  the  clear  idea  of  that  which  is 
the  dearest  and  most  precious  attainment  of  the  soul, 
the  love  of  sacrifice  and  charity.  Wrong  logical 
methods,  the  Jack  of  the  elevation  of  the  heart,  and 
above  all  the  neglect  of  conscience  in  the  progress  of 
our  intellectual  endeavors,  are  the  main  reason  for  our 
metaphysical  deficiencies. 

If  charity  moves  our  souls  to  deeds,  it  must  also 
move  our  thinking  capacities,  and,  if  charity  is  appli- 


CHARITABLE  SENTIMENTS 


251 


cable  to  little  thoughts,  with  all  the  more  reason  is  it 
applicable  to  great  thoughts.  Consequently,  charity 
must  be  the  breath  and  fragrance  of  great  constructive 
theories,  that  the  soul  may  embrace  the  great  mental 
edifice  not  only  with  its  mind  but  also  with  its  heart. 

The  truest  visitor  and  missionary  of  love  is  charity 
Its  frankness  is  open,  because  it  has  nothing  to  conceal, 
and  its  inward  power  is  winning,  convincing  and  con¬ 
quering.  There  is  a  calm  majesty  in  chanty,  because 
it  reflects  the  true  childship  of  God.  There  is  a  con¬ 
vincing  evidence  of  humility,  which  acts  with  faith  and 
imparts  faith,  which  proves  devotion  and  elicits  devo¬ 
tion,  and  which  causes  the  mutual  spirit  of  gratitude. 

Charity  is  the  most  inward  expectation  of  fallen 
souls,  the  demand  of  every  righteous  heart,  the  most 
urgent  need  of  mankind  in  all  conditions  of  our  earthly 
life  and  the  most  audible  Voice  of  God. 

No  reward  is  asked  by  charity.  Its  power  consists 
in  giving;  the  imparting  of  virtuous  treasures.  It  needs 
no  reward,  for  it  is  rewarded  by  the  power  of  its  divine 
aim.  It  needs  no  proofs,  for  it  is  fully  able  to  prove 
its  own  might.  It  heals  all  wounds  of  the  heart,  gathers 
the  better  fragments  of  human  thoughts  and  moulds 
them  in  a  nobler  working  power  of  the  intellect,  and 
supplies  motives  to  the  will  which  are  glorious  and 
invincible.  Great  and  blessed  is  the  hero  of  charity, 
for  he  is  possessed  of  superspintual  powers  and  dwells 
near  the  holiest  heart  of  his  heavenly  Father. 


UNIVERSAL  COSYMPATHY  AND  CHASTITY 


Sympathetic  tenderness  and  purity  is  the  last  char¬ 
acter  of  the  virtue  of  love.  In  this  character  the  virtuous 
soul  lays  bare  the  utter  unselfishness  of  its  motives,  men¬ 
tality  and  desire.  The  soul  wants  everything  obtain¬ 
able  for  the  sake  of  virtuous  life  in  itself  and  others.  It 
seeks  for  all  visual  means  by  which  to  find  and  impart 
virtuousness.  And  it  longs  fervently  for  the  divine 
treasures  of  the  heart. 

All  this  wanting,  seeking  and  longing  is  so  sincere, 
true  and  modest  as  to  cause  a  profound  sympathy 
between  the  desired  object  and  the  desiring  soul.  This 
profoundly  virtuous  sympathy  is  the  spiritual  tenderness 
of  all  that  is  great  and  sublime  and  it  is  this  tenderness 
which  makes  the  virtuous  soul  so  beautiful  and 
attractive. 

Great  power  of  will  and  intellect  evokes  admiration 
and  respect.  Yet,  no  matter  how  much  the  soul  may 
admire  it,  it  does  not  possess  the  same  power  of  attrac¬ 
tion  as  does  the  tender  sympathy  of  the  heart.  The 
attainment  of  great  power  of  will  and  intellect  demands 
a  long  assiduous  labor  of  which  only  very  few  among 

252 


_ COSYMPATHY  AND  CHASTITY  253 

us  are  capable,  while  to  yield  to  the  attractiveness  of 
a  virtuous  heart  is  much  easier.  All  that  is  needed  is 
sufficient  good  will  to  follow  the  virtuous  course  and 
to  understand  that  virtue  is  the  divine  aim  of  life. 

The  most  sympathetic  voice  is  the  Voice  of  God, 
for  it  teaches  everlasting  and  universal  sympathy  toward 
God  and  all  creatures.  Spiritual  sympathy  is  a  divine 
magnet  of  mutual  attraction  and  the  gathering  might 
of  our  scattered  virtuous  inclinations,  dispositions  and 
powers.  With  its  right  arm  it  holds  fast  to  God,  and 
with  its  left  it  reaches  down  even  to  the  deepest  abyss 
of  life  in  order  to  impart  its  blessing  assistance. 

Love  knows  no  contempt  even  for  those  who  will 
not  harken  to  its  heavenly  voice.  It  calls  and  calls, 
like  an  eternal  echo  of  Divinity,  until  it  is  heard.  Nor 
does  the  virtuous  soul  in  the  contact  with  his  equals 
diminish  his  sympathy  for  those  who  are  beneath  him, 
for  virtues  stimulate  the  wish  to  inspire  those  to  whom 
the  experience  of  sacrificial  love  is  unknown. 

Through  this  act  the  utmost  tenderness  of  a  sublime 
conscience  is  revealed.  The  willingness  to  esteem  every 
creature  of  God  is  the  urging  motive  of  this  spiritual 
tenderness.  The  consciousness  that,  regardless  of  their 
proximity  to  or  distance  from  God,  all  souls  are  His 
children,  moves  the  virtuous  soul  to  commensurate  com¬ 
passion  with  their  best  endeavors.  But  by  virtue  of 
justice  his  interest  in  those  who  manifest  greater  willing- 


234 _ VIRTUES _ _ 

ness  to  return  to  God  s  ways  is  greater  than  in  those 
who  are  less  willing. 

Love  is  the  giving  might,  the  one  might  which  not 
only  remains  undepleted,  but  becomes  more  potent  by 
giving.  it  is  like  an  eternal  tree  of  life.  Each  picking 
of  a  blossom  or  fruit,  each  pruning  of  a  branch  makes 
not  only  its  trunk  but  even  its  roots  stronger,  so  that  the 
fruit  becomes  nobler  and  more  prolific. 

Love  is  the  renascent  factor  of  virtuous  life.  Its 
sympathetic  infusion  regenerates  and  revivifies  the  heart 
suffering  from  spiritual  debility  and  inward  languor. 
A  soul  unfit  to  give  sympathy  and  love  is  like  a  decay¬ 
ing  corpse  and  requires  a  heavenly  spirit  for  its  resusci¬ 
tation  and  preservation. 

Love  often  manifests  itself  through  insisting  ardor, 
in  order  to  overwhelm  coldness  and  refractoriness  with 
its  blessing  gifts;  for  blessing  gifts  persuade  and  inspire 
to  willingness  of  pure  sympathy  and  thus  lead  the  frigid 
soul  to  warmer,  more  virtuous  action. 

Divine  love  possesses  the  might  of  inspiration,  of 
lucidity  and  of  animation.  No  will  ever  accomplishes 
a  great  virtuous  deed  without  the  divine  might  of  inspir¬ 
ation,  no  genius  produces  a  great  thought  without  the 
might  of  divine  lucidity,  and  no  sentiment  rises  to  sacri¬ 
fice  without  the  might  of  divine  animation.  This  is 
the  supreme  sympathy  of  God  with  the  soul.  Through 
giving,  it  teaches  giving  and  its  sympathy  evokes  sym¬ 
pathy. 


COSYMPATHY  AND  CHASTITY 


255 


Our  soul  is  not  only  a  creation  but  also  an  example 
of  Divine  love.  Each  example  possesses  the  spirit 
or  motive  of  the  giver,  and,  therefore,  must  follow  this 
spirit.  This  constitutes  the  great  rule  of  worthy  life 
and  the  profoundest  reason  for  virtuous  sympathy. 
Among  souls  this  sympathy  is  an  invitation  to  virtuous 
friendship.  The  strong  of  will  often  needs  the  calm¬ 
ness  of  contemplation  or  the  mildness  of  sentiments, 
whereas  calm  thoughtfulness  and  gentleness  of  heart 
often  need  more  energy.  Through  mutual  appreciation 
of  single  virtues,  cosympathy  causes  beautiful  affilia¬ 
tion,  strength  and  harmony. 

The  heart  of  the  soul  lives  on  sympathy  mainly,  it 
is  its  warmth  and  its  beauty.  The  attraction  of  glory 
and  esteem  is  transcendent  sympathy,  the  divine  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  soul.  This  glorious  attraction  causes 
and  evokes  sympathy  for  virtues.  Consequently,  the 
one  who  is  insensible  to  this  attraction  is  incapable  of 
entering  the  great  life  of  virtue.  Such  hearts  must  first 
be  crushed  before  they  begin  to  feel  the  attraction  of 
Divine  Love. 

Nor  can  anyone  attain  great  visions  without  profound 
sympathy  with  truth.  We  generally  call  it  endeavor 
after  truth,  but  this  statement  is  not  sufficient.  Each 
endeavor  must  radiate  with  warmth  before  it  becomes 
fruitful,  or,  in  other  words,  the  will  must  first  heat  its 
heart  that  it  be  able  to  attract  and  absorb  the  object  of 
endeavor.  A  heart  without  sympathy  is  dead. 


256 


VIRTUES 


In  all  our  relations  spiritual  sympathy  always  makes 
the  first  step,  because  it  manifests  the  sacrificial  sense 
of  esteem  and  delight.  And  the  more  modest  its  man¬ 
ner,  the  profounder  is  its  spirit.  It  is  the  true  sentimental 
radiation  of  the  best  that  the  soul  possesses.  Conse¬ 
quently,  when  virtuous  sympathy  toward  another  soul 
is  repulsed,  the  keenness  of  the  disappointment  causes 
the  restriction  of  the  best  feelings. 

This  sympathy  is  the  source  of  the  tenderness  of  the 
heart;  and  the  more  virtuous  the  heart  the  pro  founder 
is  its  tenderness.  The  tenderness  of  the  highest  spirits 
is  indescribable.  Descriptions  may  be  attractive  and 
beautiful  as  art  can  make  them,  but  they  do  not  move 
the  heart  like  a  living  soulful  tenderness. 

It  cannot  be  otherwise,  for  sacrificial  sentiments 
possess  a  transcendent  power  of  expression  surpassing 
all  natural  art.  The  greatest  art  of  the  virtuous  soul 
consists  in  the  most  complete  and  sincere  sympathy 
with  the  whole  creation  of  God,  for  nothing  is  well 
understood  that  is  not  profoundly  felt. 

No  man  can  attain  any  virtue  unless  he  has  sympathy 
for  it.  None  can  attain  truth  unless  he  has  sympathy 
with  the  Light  of  God;  indeed,  nobody  cares  for  any¬ 
thing  unless  he  is  in  sympathy  with  it.  This  is  the 
eternal  law  of  sentiments,  which  leads  us  to  the  heaven 
of  sacrifice,  or  confines  us  to  the  horrible  limitations  of 
spiritual  egotism  with  its  concomitant  debasement. 

The  glory  and  the  love  of  God  and  the  conditions 


COSYMPATHY  AND  CHASTITY 


257 


of  virtuous  friendship  demand  the  concentration  not 
only  of  our  efforts  but  also  of  our  delights  on  the  para¬ 
mount  honor  of  being  a  pure  child  of  God.  T  he  devia¬ 
tion  from  this  holy  demand  debases  our  worthiness  and 
tears  us  down  to  a  comparison  with  animals. 

Since  all  our  thoughts  and  sentiments  must  be  pure, 
in  order  to  maintain  our  spiritual  dignity,  so  must  also 
be  the  body,  the  soul’s  external  instrument  and  garment. 
The  body  is  so  strictly  interrelated  with  the  soul  that 
whatever  takes  place  in  the  soul’s  inward  determina¬ 
tion,  thinking  and  desire  is  not  only  expressed  in  the 
physical  countenance  but  is  also  held  by  it  as  a  witness 
of  the  soul’s  habits.  It  does  not  require  much  spiritual 
sense  and  intelligence  to  discriminate  between  the 
sensually  debased  and  the  innocent,  or  the  one  who 
controls  his  sensual  passions  by  conscience. 

The  virtuous  soul  takes  strict  precautions  and  rigid 
means  to  forbid  the  sinful  craving  for  the  flesh.  His 
intense  desire  for  virtues  and  his  predominant  love  for 
God  keeps  him  above  that  insisting  passion.  A  sincere, 
intense  and  repeated  vow  of  continence  is  his  shield 
against  voluptuous  insinuation  and  the  choice  of  spiritual 
association  and  friendship  the  best  means  of  sustaining 
continence.  Glory  to  those  religious  creeds  which 
invite  to  and  protect  the  high  standard  of  chastity. 

Much  more  difficult  is  the  maintaining  of  chastity  in 
matrimony.  But  the  virtuous  husband  and  wife  will 
bear  it  in  their  minds  and  in  their  hearts,  that  matri- 


258 _ VIRTUES _ _ 

mony  has,  besides  spiritual  friendship,  but  one  aim,  the 
production  of  a  young  body  into  which  God  in  His 
almighty  providence  places  a  feeble  soul  which,  with 
the  cooperation  of  its  parents,  is  to  be  raised  to  a  vir¬ 
tuous  life.  Beyond  this  aim,  delight  in  flesh  is 
unworthy.  Any  infringement  upon  this  virtuous  rule 
disgraces  the  soul  before  God  and  before  its  own  con¬ 
science.  The  virtuous  soul  does  not  stoop  to  mere 
sensual  delight,  for  he  is  conscious  that  no  serious  act 
is  permissible  unless  it  has  a  worthy  aim. 

The  concentration  of  delight  on  sensuality  is  one 
of  the  greatest  curses  of  humanity.  It  destroys  all  spir¬ 
itual  refinement  and  energy,  it  paralyzes  the  capacity 
for  sublimer  thoughts  and  fills  the  heart  with  insatiable 
craving  for  the  flesh  with  the  inevitable  consequences 
of  physical  infirmity  and  spiritual  impotence. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS 


Justice,  in  its  concrete  sense,  consists  in  the  eternal 
guardianship  of  the  virtuous  content  of  life.  Righteous¬ 
ness  is  the  personal  application  to  justice.  The  might 
of  Divine  Justice  imparts  the  inalienable  right  to  vir¬ 
tuous  life,  and  the  virtue  of  righteousness,  being  the 
transcendent  reflex  of  Divine  Justice  in  conscience, 
demands  the  whole-souled  affirmation  of  virtuous  life. 

Though  the  source  of  righteousness  lies  in  humility, 
as  the  most  righteous  state  of  our  soul,  it  expresses  its 
power  mainly  through  the  processive  virtues  of  forti¬ 
tude  and  wisdom.  Thus  righteousness,  as  a  virtue,  is 
chiefly  the  sentimental  effect  of  the  volitional  fortitude 
and  mental  wisdom.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  pos¬ 
sesses  within  itself  both  the  force  of  action  and  the 
freedom  from  all  selfish  purposes. 

Notwithstanding  that  righteousness  affects  the  will 
and  mind  as  well  as  the  heart,  it  nevertheless  is  essen¬ 
tially  a  virtue  of  the  heart,  because  volitional  fortitude 
and  mental  wisdom  are  concentrated  into  an  habitual 
sentiment  of  the  heart.  Here  righteousness  always  acts 
with  a  force  which  only  sentiments,  flowing  from  sacri¬ 
ficial  motives,  can  impart.  No  other  motives  are 

259 


260 


VIRTUES 


capable  of  producing  any  sense  of  righteous  feeling. 

In  its  broader  application,  righteousness  demonstrates 
each  preceding  and  succeeding  virtue.  Living  in  the 
center  of  all  sentimental  processes  of  the  heart,  right¬ 
eousness  is  the  sacred  governor  and  controller  of  emo¬ 
tions.  No  feeling  is  allowed  to  rise,  no  thought  to 
suggest  and  no  motive  to  form  without  its  approbation 
and  direction.  Its  tendency  is  the  actual  affirmation 
of  holiness,  truth  and  love  through  active  and  practical 
affirmation  of  Divine  justice. 

It  is  right  that  the  outer  throb  of  Divine  determina¬ 
tion,  which  is  the  substance  of  the  soul’s  will,  be  pure, 
mighty  and  full  of  bliss.  It  is  right  that  the  reflex 
flame  of  Divine  Truth,  which  is  the  substance  of  the 
soul’s  intellect,  be  guided  by  the  source  of  its  light 
and  filled  with  wisdom  and  truthfulness.  And  it  is 
right  that  the  sacred  vessel  of  virtues,  which  is  the 
immaculate  substance  of  the  soul’s  heart,  should  con¬ 
tain  no  other  love  except  that  of  its  holiest  Creator  and 
Father.  This  is  the  transcendent  motive  of  Divine 
justice  and  the  righteousness  of  the  soul  is  the  response 
to  this  Divine  motive. 

Owing  to  this  intimate  affiliation  with  God,  right¬ 
eousness  is  the  most  steadfast,  most  zealous  and  most 
intrepid  virtue.  It  never  yields  its  holy  ground.  Not 
only  does  it  defend  the  innocent,  but  it  also  attacks 
the  offender.  Faithfulness  to  the  Floly  Will  of  God 


RIGHTEOUSNESS 


261 


and  the  might  of  conscience  places  the  flaming  sword  of 
invincibility  in  the  hands  of  the  righteous. 

To  understand  righteousness  in  its  full  power  we 
must  understand  its  application  to  our  determinations , 
our  visions  and  our  sentiments. 


RIGHTEOUS  DETERMINATION 


Righteous  determination  consists  in  the  choosing  of 
and  resolving  on  actions  according  to  the  absolute  right 
of  the  Will  of  God.  Since  the  Will  of  God  is  the 
absolutely  just  Will,  by  virtue  of  our  affiliation  and 
cooperation  with  God,  our  determination  must  be  right¬ 
eous.  Once  this  vital  standpoint  of  our  life  is  doubted 
or  denied,  there  is  neither  the  absolute  reason  for  nor 
absolute  power  of  introducing,  much  less,  of  sustaining 
righteousness  within  us;  the  basis  of  right  and  duty 
is  destroyed  and  the  door  to  sins  and  crimes  is  open 
wide. 

For  this  obvious  reason  the  necessity  for  humility 
before  God  is  most  conspicuous.  The  one  who  does 
not  recognize  and  accept  the  law  of  God  as  the  supreme 
law  of  our  will,  must,  of  logical  necessity,  lose  his 
sublime  and  constructive  freedom  of  virtues  and  fall 
prey  to  the  base  and  destructive  freedom  of  his  pas¬ 
sions.  Furthermore,  there  cannot  be  any  serious  faith 
in,  devotion  to  and  gratitude  for  righteous  deeds  and, 
consequently,  no  power  for  righteousness  can  be 
attained  and  no  righteous  motives  formed. 

Righteousness  is  the  spiritual  channel  through  which 
all  deeds  must  pass  to  prove  their  worthiness  or  to 

262 


RIGHTEOUS  DETERMINATION 


263 


divulge  their  unworthiness.  Its  power  constitutes  the 
sacred  alternative  which  demonstrates  either  our  spir¬ 
itual  uprightness  and  honor  or  the  willful  depravity 
of  our  character. 

All  movements  and  motives  of  the  will  are  involved 
in  righteousness.  Thus  no  worthy  movement  of  the 
self  -conscious  will  takes  place  without  its  prompting, 
and  no  worthy  motive  can  be  formed  without  its  appro¬ 
bation.  It  allows  no  means  which  dishonor  the  dignity 
of  the  cause,  for  a  righteous  cause  absolutely  requires 
righteous  and  honorable  means. 

Each  action  pertaining  to  a  cause,  or,  as  a  means 
employed  in  a  cause,  must  bear  the  obvious  testimony 
of  consistence  with  the  just  and  charitable  Will  of 
God.  Righteousness  suffers  no  pretext  and  severely 
forbids  juggling  with  conscience.  Denominational  per¬ 
versions  and  political  prevarications  it  alike  condemns. 

If  contemplatists  and  pietists,  as  well  as  the  writers 
of  dogmas  and  the  so-called  “defenders  of  faith,”  in 
their  laborious  volumes  and  innumerable  sermons,  had 
devoted  more  effort  to  the  teaching  of  the  virtue  of 
righteousness,  humanity  would  now  be  a  great  deal 
nearer  to  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

No  human  authority,  institution  or  ideal  can  long 
exist  unless  it  strictly  conforms  to  righteousness,  and 
no  man  has  a  right  to  deem  himself  either  religious  or 
honorable  unless  he  possesses  righteousness,  the  inefface¬ 
able  evidence  of  faith  and  honor. 


264 


VIRTUES 


Righteousness  is  the  most  palpable  demonstration  of 
the  soul’s  power,  which  evinces  the  potent  and  beautiful 
content  of  life.  It  pays  the  highest  tribute  to  the 
Highest  in  Holiness  and  to  every  soul  according  to  its 
virtuous  elevation.  It  sustains  and  defends  this  holy 
content  of  spirituality  with  unswerving  energy.  Justice 
is  its  sole  object,  and  nowhere  does  righteousness  evolve 
its  power  with  greater  effect  than  in  the  homage  for 
and  defense  of  that  which  must  be  adored,  esteemed 
and  upheld. 

The  eternal  bulwark,  proof  and  vindication  of  con¬ 
science  is  found  in  righteousness,  and  this  fact  alon$ 
is  sufficient  to  cause  us  to  adore  the  commanding  and 
exacting  justice  of  God.  Its  superspiritual  power 
derives  from  this  commanding  and  exacting  justice  of 
God;  it  permeates  all  the  forces  of  our  soul  and 
demands  a  strict  account  of  our  deeds,  thoughts  and 
sentiments.  Each  serious  man  makes  a  more  or  less 
careful  scrutiny  of  his  actions,  especially  when  he  has 
failed  in  his  endeavor.  But  the  virtuous  man  scrutinizes 
his  motives  so  thoroughly  before  the  fulfillment  of  the 
act  as  to  debar  any  possibility  of  self-seeking  sentiment 
in  his  endeavor. 

The  one  who  does  not  so  scrutinize  his  motives  is 
far  from  being  righteous  and  is  unable  to  contribute  in 
any  marked  degree  to  a  righteous  cause.  All  his  aspira¬ 
tions  and  sentiments  and  all  his  prayers  for  righteousness 
will  be  of  little  avail,  if  his  will  is  too  weak  to  sacrifice 


RIGHTEOUS  DETERMINATION 


265 

his  whole  force  for  the  sake  of  the  sacred  intangibility 
of  sacrificial  values. 

If  anyone  desires  to  exercise  his  will  to  power,  right¬ 
eousness  offers  him  the  greatest  battlefield  of  glory. 
The  battle  of  all  our  motives  takes  place  on  this  glorious 
field  and  here  the  victory  of  eternal  values  over  evil 
motives,  darkness  and  hate  is  won.  H  ere  the  virtuous 
soul  proves  his  great  manhood ;  not  an  assuming  will 
to  power  but  the  great  power  of  his  virtuous  will.  Him¬ 
self  conquered  by  the  holiest  Will  of  God,  he  is 
crowned  with  the  power  of  invincibility  and  is  ready 
to  suffer  and  to  die  not  only  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
sacrificial  worthiness  but  also  for  that  of  others. 


RIGHTEOUS  VISION 


Since  vision  is  only  the  mental  process  of  our  self- 
conscious  and  self-sentient  will,  it  always  follows  the 
inward  determination  of  the  will.  In  other  words, 
mental  visions  are  the  defining  reflex  of  the  soul’s  inward 
state  of  volition  or  endeavor.  Practically  speaking,  one 
is  always  occupied  with  those  thoughts  which  illustrate 
his  inward  tendency  and  does  not  care  to  think  of  any¬ 
thing  in  which  he  is  not  interested.  Thus  visions  are 
the  reflectors  of  the  volitional  tendency  of  the  soul. 

With  these  visions  the  soul  endeavors  to  grasp  men¬ 
tally  the  object  of  its  life,  in  its  unlimited  variety,  in 
order  to  adjust  itself  to  the  whole  complex  of  life.  But 
the  complex  of  life  is  so  great,  both  in  its  variety  and 
degrees  that,  unless  the  soul  accepts  the  rule  of  right¬ 
eous  vision,  it  is  unable  to  define  rightly  its  own  indi¬ 
vidual  standpoint  or  any  other  collective  standpoint  of 
life. 

Our  religious,  philosophical,  scientific  and  social  con¬ 
fusion  is  ascribable  to  the  lack  of  the  most  practical 
rule  of  life,  which  is  righteousness,  and  to  the  conse¬ 
quent  lack  of  its  strict  application  to  our  visions.  When 
“sacred  scriptures  and  traditions”  teach  us  a  creation 
of  God  without  the  sentiment  of  His  holiest  sacrifice, 

266 


RIGHTEOUS  VISION 


267 

and  of  suffering  in  consequence  of  the  sins  of  its  pro¬ 
genitors,  or  of  aggressive  wars  and  swindles  blessed 
by  God,  we  must  not  be  astonished  at  the  lack  of  the 
due  sense  of  righteousness  in  the  soul.  At  the  very 
root  of  our  allegiance  to  God  righteousness  has  become 
stunned  if  not  wholly  annihilated. 

When  philosophy  teaches  us  that  mere  thoughts  are 
realities  and  not  the  mental  course  of  the  will,  and  that 
the  will  is  only  a  consequence  of  our  feeling  or  thinking, 
we  must  not  wonder  at  the  indifference  to  a  righteous 
sense  of  responsibility  among  the  intelligent  classes. 

When  sciences  are  feeding  our  human  spirit  with 
a  knowledge  of  mere  physical  forces  and  material,  utili¬ 
tarian  commodities,  without  the  slightest  effort  to  show 
the  consistency  of  these  forces  with  and  their  depen¬ 
dence  from  the  spiritual  forces,  we  ought  not  to  be 
surprised  that  the  inward  hearing  of  human  conscience, 
honor  and  righteousness  has  become  deafened  and  the 
madness  for  worldly  values  increased. 

The  religious,  philosophical  and  scientific  factors  are 
the  leading  factors  of  life.  If  these  factors  do  not 
demonstrate  and  inculcate  the  spirit  of  righteousness, 
our  whole  educational  structure  must  be  wrong;  and 
every  serious  man  feels  that  it  is  wrong. 

No  religious  or  theological  doctrine  has  given  us 
a  clear  vision  of  the  “Face  of  God,”  or  a  clear  plan 
of  Divine  creation.  Consequently,  it  could  not  give 
us  a  compelling  understanding  of  an  actual  bond 


268 _ VIRTUES _ 

between  God  and  the  soul,  the  most  righteous  bond  of 
faith,  devotion  and  gratitude.  It  could  not  make  us 
understand  that  we  actually  live  on  this  divine  bond 
of  religion,  that  in  every  moment  of  our  lives  we  are 
in  continuous  contact  and  account  with  it,  and  that  on 
this  holy  bond  relies  our  conscience,  our  honor  and  our 
whole  life.  When  religion,  the  very  term  of  which 
conveys  the  meaning  of  bond  between  God  and  the 
soul,  is  so  unclear,  how  is  it  possible  for  a  man,  even 
if  he  be  a  believer  in  God,  to  possess  righteous  views 
or  righteous  sense? 

Philosophy,  the  mightiest  mental  weapon  against 
irreligious  falsehood,  has  failed,  inasmuch  as  it  has 
been  unable  to  define  clearly  the  highest  values  of  life. 
It  has  failed  even  in  the  clear  definition  of  the  laws  of 
the  mind  by  which  the  highest  values  are  conceived. 

If  logic  is  not  clearly  consistent  with  the  absolute 
laws  of  truth  in  our  conscience  and  with  the  whole 
structure  of  our  spiritual  forces,  it  is  bound  to  fail  us 
in  practical  life.  We  not  only  want  to  think  logically, 
but  we  want  to  live  logically.  And  to  live  logically 
means  to  act,  to  see  and  to  feel  righteously.  Logic  is 
the  righteous  rule  for  righteous  thinking.  If  this  plain 
axiom  is  not  well  understood,  then,  indeed,  our  concept 
of  philosophy  is  superficial  and  its  teaching  ineffective. 

The  majority  of  natural  scientists,  holding  to  the 
opinion  that  their  researches  have  nothing  in  common 
with  religion  and  morals,  have  a  wrong  opinion  of  the 


RIGHTEOUS  VISION 


269 


value  of  nature.  Nature  has  an  intrinsically  instru¬ 
mental,  illustrative  and  utilitarian  value  as  to  its  laws, 
processes  and  effects.  If  it  has  value,  which  is  unde¬ 
niable,  there  must  be  a  righteous  rule  for  the  under¬ 
standing  of  these  values.  Surely,  even  a  radical  natur¬ 
alist  will  not  consent  to  the  opinion  that  nature  is  a 
mere  mechanical  instrument  for  self-satisfaction  or 
amusement,  as  it  appears  to  little  children.  He  respects 
nature,  he  sees  values  in  nature,  for  values  are  spiritual 
predicates.  And  spiritual  predicates,  by  the  very  sense 
of  their  dignity,  demand  righteousness,  a  force  in  regard 
to  which  the  naturalist  is  equally  as  sensitive  as  any 
other  mortal.  Indeed,  he  will  die  for  the  sake  of  this 
sense  sooner  than  for  the  sake  of  his  whole  science. 

The  more  potent  the  virtue  of  righteousness,  the  pro¬ 
founder  and  broader  are  our  visions,  for  righteousness 
insists  on  seeing  not  only  one  or  one  thousand  things 
rightly,  but  on  seeing  all  things  rightly.  On  this  power 
depends  the  harmony  and  consistency  of  our  important 
views.  No  theological  or  philosophical  theory  will 
stand  the  test  of  life  unless  all  spiritual  and  natural 
forces  are  brought  to  a  right  account  and  in  strict  coher¬ 
ence,  and  unless  the  right  gradation  of  their  values  is 
established.  This  is  not  an  exclusive  task  of  the  intel¬ 
lect,  as  so  many  presume,  but  of  the  righteous  will,  with 
its  righteous  heart,  through  the  intellect. 

Truth  is  holy  because  it  is  the  eternal  definition  of 
Holiness,  and  cannot  be  attained  without  intense  longing 


270 


VIRTUES 


for  it.  This  is  righteous  and  the  will  must  be  inwardly 
righteous  to  attain  such  holy  longing.  Here  the  forti¬ 
tude  and  wisdom  of  the  righteous  will  is  probed,  proved 
and  effected,  for  righteousness  is  the  final  evidence  of 
fortitude  and  wisdom. 

The  righteous  man  is  fully  conscious  of  this  fact  and 
never  abates  the  effort  of  his  virtuous  determination  to 
attain  fortitude  and  wisdom.  He  never  allows  himself 
to  be  misled  by  the  clamorous  opinions  of  the  multitude 
or  by  standards  approved  by  ages,  much  as  he  may 
respect  the  latter  for  the  partial  service  they  have  ren¬ 
dered.  He  always  cleaves  to  the  distinct  demand  of 
conscience  and  the  honor  of  divine  childship,  which 
knows  no  expedients.  To  him  nothing  is  right  without 
righteousness. 

Honesty  is  merely  the  application  of  righteousness 
to  external  transactions,  while  righteousness,  as  such, 
is  the  inward  appreciation  and  confirmation  of  every¬ 
thing  holy,  true  and  sacrificial.  Thus  an  “honest” 
man  may  be  far  from  righteous. 

Righteousness  in  thinking  is  its  very  logic.  There 
is  an  eternal  rule  in  conscience  for  the  order  and  right¬ 
ness  of  our  thoughts,  and  this  eternal  rule  is  found  in 
the  categories  reflecting  from  the  order  of  virtues.  The 
criterion  of  truth  rests  in  worthiness,  the  first  and  abso¬ 
lute  demand  of  God  and  the  transcendent  object  of 
life. 

It  follows  that  righteousness  guides  all  correct  think- 


RIGHTEOUS  VISION 


271 

ing  and  that  all  errors  in  thinking  are  due  to  its  absence. 
We  often  hear  it  said  that  this  or  that  person  is  “hon¬ 
estly  mistaken.”  In  considering  such  statements,  due 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  superficiality  and  ambi¬ 
guity  of  the  word  “honest.”  But  if  “honest”  is  here 
used  in  the  sense  of  ‘  ‘righteous,”  then  it  must  be  under¬ 
stood  that  it  is  impossible  for  any  soul  to  be  “right¬ 
eously  mistaken.”  Errors  in  thinking  are,  indeed,  all 
too  common,  and  it  may  be  granted  in  most  cases  that 
they  are  unconscious  errors,  but  this  merely  means  that 
the  thinker  is  unconscious  of  his  own  lack  of  right¬ 
eousness. 

Worthiness,  as  the  transcendent  object  of  holy  life, 
causes  the  unquenchable  thirst  for  the  righteous  knowl¬ 
edge  of  our  life  and  imparts  righteousness  to  our  think¬ 
ing  power.  If  this  were  not  true,  then  all  knowledge 
would  be  corruptible.  Knowledge  without  regard  to 
worthiness,  no  matter  how  extensive,  makes  no  right¬ 
eous  characters,  but  merely  causes  conceit,  vanity  and 
egotism.  The  sophistry  of  pseudo-philosophers  and 
pseudo-theologians  is  justly  denounced  by  every  right¬ 
eous  mind.  To  test  a  statement  it  is  enough  to  apply 
it  in  practice ;  then  we  soon  see  the  worthy  or  unworthy 
conclusion. 

Unrighteous  statements  or  opinions  in  religious  and 
social  sciences  cause  hatred,  corrupt  the  human  character 
and  result  in  disaster.  Owing  to  this  danger,  righteous¬ 
ness  is  the  most  insisting  virtue.  Nothing  great,  sublime 


272 


VIRTUES 


and  harmonious  can  be  achieved  without  righteousness. 
It  is  the  builder  and  preserver  of  universal  harmony 
and  the  sole  bridge  of  mutual  understanding. 

All  true  knowledge  is  derived  from  the  soul-permeat¬ 
ing  sense  of  righteousness.  Wisdom  is  mental  right¬ 
eousness,  and  each  interpretation  of  its  understanding 
is  invariably  the  right  interpretation.  It  never  bends 
or  twists  its  straightness  of  vision  and,  therefore,  makes 
compromise  with  nothing  that  is  not  holy,  true  and 
good.  Sincerity  and  truthfulness  are  the  witnesses  of 
righteousness,  and,  for  this  reason,  righteousness  is  un- 
concealable. 

The  righteous  knows  God’s  Will  within  his  soul’s 
intimity  and  rightly  expects  the  good  for  the  good  deed 
and  evil  for  evil  deeds.  If  man  had  no  inward  con¬ 
sciousness  of  this  palpable  law  of  God,  he  would 
become  a  ferocious  beast.  Each  thought  and  sentiment 
of  the  virtuous  soul  stands  continually  before  the  divine 
tribunal  of  this  law,  in  order  to  obtain  the  ultimate 
verdict  whether  this  or  that  motive  is  to  be  accomplished 
or  not.  If  the  verdict  of  righteousness  calls  for  the 
fulfillment  of  the  act,  the  virtuous  soul  unhesitatingly 
proceeds  to  its  realization.  In  a  contrary  instance,  both 
the  thought  and  the  sentiment  of  the  motive  are  elimi¬ 
nated.  In  this  spiritual  process,  the  virtuous  soul  con¬ 
ceives  his  worthiness  before  God  and  this  vision  gives 
him  the  assurance  of  his  righteous  standpoint. 


RIGHTEOUS  SENTIMENT 


The  formal  habitation  of  righteousness  is  in  virtuous 
self-sentiency,  the  heart  of  the  soul;  for  all  virtuous 
sentiments  pass  through  this  virtue  as  the  final  demon¬ 
stration  of  their  worthiness  and  power.  The  worthy 
will  chooses  the  righteous  course  of  action,  its  self- 
consciousness  searches  for  the  divine  light  to  see  this 
course  clearly,  and  its  self-sentiency  longs  for  right¬ 
eousness  and  demands  that  it  inhabit  the  heart. 

Psychologically,  the  heart  is  the  vessel  of  the  choice 
and  attainment  of  spiritual  values.  Spiritual  values  are 
not  like  material  values,  which  are  apparently  dead  or 
immovable  in  themselves;  they  are  full  of  sensitiveness 
and  emotion.  They  incite  the  will  to  action,  the  mind 
to  thinking.  They  rise  and  abate  at  the  slightest  con¬ 
tact  with  similar  or  contrary  sentiments  in  oneself  and 
others.  Their  harmony  depends  from  the  power  of 
righteous  will  and  their  clearness  from  the  righteous 
mind. 

Spiritual  values  are  sacrifices.  We  all  know  that 
what  is  not  sacrificial  has,  to  say  the  least,  no  worthi¬ 
ness.  The  unsacrificial  heart  is  not  merely  the  conse¬ 
quence  of  self-interest;  it  is  the  consequence  of  a  wrong 
and  false  self-interest.  The  true  self-interest  consists 

273 


274  VIRTUES _ 

in  being  worthy  and  mighty.  And  how  can  one  be 
worthy  and  mighty  if  practically  everything  he  pos¬ 
sesses  he  devours  himself?  Is  this  the  essence  o  f  indi¬ 
vidual  righteousness?  Can  anyone  with  conscience 
and  respect  for  himself  respect  and  love  such  a  soul? 

Each  virtuous  act  emanates  from  the  sacrificial  con¬ 
tent,  the  elevation  and  power  of  the  heart.  No  one 
is  fully  worthy  unless  his  heart  is  filled  with  intense 
solicitude  for  sacrificial  values,  which  are  the  essence 
of  righteousness.  Consequently,  nothing  proves  and 
disproves  the  honor  of  the  soul  so  clearly  as  righteous¬ 
ness  and  unrighteousness. 

Righteousness  is  the  path  of  sacrifice.  Since  sacri¬ 
fice  derives  from  Divine  love,  it  affects  our  hearts 
mainly.  And  since  righteousness  is  the  path  of  sacri¬ 
fice,  it  permeates  the  whole  profoundness  of  the  pure 
heart  with  sublime  impulses.  By  reason  of  this  fact 
a  righteous  act  does  not  manifest  the  calm  deliberation 
of  the  virtue  of  wisdom,  but  ardently  insists  on  the 
necessity  of  rightness  and  justice. 

We  may  call  righteousness  the  impulsive  conscience, 
because  the  sentiment  of  probity  is  full  of  ardor.  It 
is  the  leading  impulse  in  every  worthy  decision,  judg¬ 
ment  and  desire.  It  always  strives  for  the  sublimest, 
truest  and  best.  And  in  case  of  temptation,  it  exhibits 
to  the  soul  the  dangerous  consequences  of  its  fall  and 
disgrace  as  well  as  the  irremovable  necessity  for  a 


_ RIGHTEOUS  SENTIMENT  21 5 

painful  reparation  and  rehabilitation  of  the  worthiness 
of  the  human  character. 

Profound  conversions  are  moved  by  righteousness 
mainly.  The  keen  disappointment  in  the  proud  and 
false  standpoint  maintained  by  the  soul  is  caused  by 
the  sting  of  conscience,  which  tangibly  proves  to  the 
guilty  his  utmost  unworthiness.  It  proves  to  him  that 
he  is  a  robber  with  respect  to  honor  and  a  fraud  with 
respect  to  truth ;  it  makes  him  conscious  of  his  degrading 
self-deception  with  which  he  has  deceived  others. 

Only  then  he  begins  to  hate  his  passions  with  increas¬ 
ing  fervor.  Downcast,  and  often  in  extreme  wretched¬ 
ness,  he  looks  less  for  human  examples  of  righteousness, 
for  they  are  not  easily  found,  than  for  the  inward  Voice 
*>f  God,  which  is  ever-present.  Here  a  virtuous  teacher 
may  help  and  a  true  friend  may  console,  but  nothing 
gives  the  full  assurance  of  peace  save  God  Himself. 

If  the  sinful  soul  is  not  sensitive  to  the  call  of  right¬ 
eousness  for  the  return  to  virtuous  life,  it  will  grow  in 
spiritual  callousness,  which,  with  each  delay  becomes 
more  and  more  difficult  and  painful  to  destroy. 

Righteousness  is  the  most  vigilant  virtue.  Dwelling 
in  the  center  of  the  soul’s  heart,  it  keeps  unceasing  con¬ 
tact  with  all  other  virtues.  The  slightest  omission  or 
neglect  on  its  part  bears  the  most  unfortunate  conse¬ 
quences,  causes  the  keenest  pain,  and  an  irrepressible 
eagerness  to  atone  for  and  to  right  the  offense.  Deep 
remorse,  expiation  of  sins,  and  reparation  for  injuries 


276 


VIRTUES 


to  Divine  Majesty  and  to  the  rights  and  honor  of 
man,  is  the  demand  of  conscience  in  all  those  who  are 
not  depraved. 

The  manly  character  is  stimulated  and  nourished  by 
righteous  impulses,  which  derive  from  virtuous  energy 
and  the  sentiment  of  wisdom.  It  is  their  effectuation. 
Hence  the  fearlessness  of  the  righteous  impulse  and  the 
certainty  of  its  viewpoint. 

Righteousness  is  the  incessant  exercise  of  all  virtues. 
Through  righteousness  must  pass  and  express  them¬ 
selves  all  virtuous  determinations,  thoughts  and  senti¬ 
ments,  in  order  to  prove  their  sacredness. 

In  humility  righteousness  proves  its  eternal  ground, 
for  nothing  is  so  righteous  as  the  whole-souled  recogni¬ 
tion  of  the  divine  gift  of  our  participation  in  holy  life. 
In  fortitude  it  exerts  its  power,  for  without  holy  energy 
it  cannot  attain  its  full  efficiency.  In  beatitude  it  con¬ 
firms  its  assurance  of  rightness  through  immovable 
security  and  lasting  peace  and  joy. 

In  order  to  have  infallible  clearness,  righteousness 
cleaves  to  Divine  Light  and  it  consults  wisdom  in  all 
conditions  and  circumstances.  It  always  chooses  the 
simplest,  most  truthful  and  modest  way  for  its  effectu¬ 
ation.  Consequently,  righteousness  is  the  maker  of  a 
noble  character  and  the  most  practical  foundation  of 
true  merit  and  honor. 

The  virtuous  soul  endeavors  to  feel  and  cherish  the 
power  of  righteousness  within  its  own  heart  that  it  may 


RIGHTEOUS  SENTIMENT 


277 


not  fail  whenever  it  is  needed  for  a  just  cause.  Just 
causes  are  objects  of  righteous  sentiments  and  the  failure 
to  establish  the  highest  cause  of  our  life  is  due  to  lack 
of  righteous  sentiments  and  the  love  of  justice. 

The  highest  cause  of  our  life  is  religion,  the  eternal 
bond  of  the  soul  with  God.  All  other  causes  depend 
from  this  supreme  cause  and  manifest  their  spirit  accord¬ 
ingly.  All  that  is  righteous  is  religious  and  everything 
that  is  not  righteous  is  not  religious.  No  matter  how 
strong  the  claims  of  the  denominational  spirit  are  for 
forming  exclusive  means  of  sanctification,  if  these  means 
are  not  in  strict  conformity  with  obvious  and  simple 
righteousness,  they  in  themselves  are  unjust  and  not 
sanctifying. 

The  spirit  of  God  is  the  spirit  of  absolute  justice, 
immovable  in  its  superessence,  dominating  through  its 
transcendence,  and  moulding  everything  existential 
according  to  the  spirit  of  its  unalterable  decrees.  No 
prerogative,  no  right  and  no  liberty  is  tolerated  before 
the  Face  of  Divine  justice,  except  the  privilege,  the 
right  and  liberty  of  justice  constantly  upheld  by  the 
duties  torvard  justice.  Justice  is  the  rule  of  God  and 
the  love  of  this  holy  rule  is  the  indispensable  necessity 
of  the  virtuous  heart. 


THE  VIRTUE  OF  GOODNESS 


The  final  effect  of  all  virtues  in  general  and  of  love 
in  particular  is  goodness.  Its  power  consists  in  the 
spirit  of  holy  solicitude  for  searching  and  seizing  every 
opportunity  to  manifest  the  good  will,  the  good  thought 
and  the  good  sentiment.  It  follows  like  a  heavenly 
fragrance  each  virtuous  blossom  of  the  heart  and  exhila¬ 
rates  and  asuages  the  most  inward  desires. 

Each  soul  desires  goodness,  but  nowhere  can  its 
full  power  be  found  save  in  humility,  where  the  inex¬ 
haustible  treasures  of  divine  childship  dwell.  Humility, 
being  the  corresponding  state  to  the  supreme  Divine 
gift  of  our  divine  childship,  is  the  profoundest  source 
of  the  soul’s  goodness.  Therefore,  faith  in  God  is 
the  proof  of  our  goodness,  devotion  to  God  the  very 
life  of  goodness  and  gratitude  to  God  the  breath  and 
fragrance  of  goodness. 

Thus  also  fortitude,  with  its  inward  energy,  perse¬ 
verance  and  triumphant  power,  is  the  virtuous  process 
for  the  attainment  of  the  highest  Good,  and  beatitude 
its  everlasting  fruition.  The  invigorating  and  attracting 
power  of  goodness  emanates  from  the  collective  powers 

278 


GOODNESS 


279 


of  virtues,  and,  being  the  final  manifestation  of  them, 
is  in  itself  the  most  expressive  virtue. 

The  mind  which  searches  for  God,  as  the  Supreme 
Principle  of  life,  and  which  endeavors  to  conceive  Elis 
holiest  determination,  Elis  holiest  light  and  His  holiest 
love,  is  a  far  better,  profounder  and  more  powerful 
mind  than  the  one  which  searches  merely  for  fragments 
of  psychic  or  natural  manifestations.  For  this  reason 
the  good  mind  never  ceases  rising  until  it  reaches  the 
apex  of  light  and  never  fears  to  enter  into  the  pro¬ 
fundity  of  life,  which  is  based  on  the  highest  Good. 

The  Elighest  Good  is  no  mystery.  It  is  the  most 
obvious  existential  object,  which  each  soul  is  eager  to 
attain,  and  which  requires  our  constant  attention.  And 
the  best  attention  of  which  the  mind  is  capable  is  the 
attention  to  the  inward  Voice  of  God.  There  is  no 
teacher  or  guide  to  compare  with  it.  The  sublimest 
words  uttered  by  great  souls  are  words  arising  from 
this  inward  Voice,  in  order  to  awaken  and  encourage 
the  highest  and  best  in  the  soul.  Only  the  spirit  of 
pride  enshrouds  itself  in  mystery  for  fear  that  its  false 
face  may  be  seen. 

The  cleaving  to  conscience  is  the  good  character  of 
the  virtuous  mind.  The  application  of  our  will,  thought 
and  sentiment  to  conscience  is  an  act  of  wisdom,  which 
effects  not  only  righteousness  but  also  goodness.  Pru¬ 
dence  is  not  wisdom,  for  its  motive  is  that  of  defense 
and  not  of  initiative  or  action.  Wisdom  tends  to  the 


VIRTUES 


280 

positive  good  and  exacts  the  positive  proof  of  the  good 
deed,  thought  and  sentiment.  Each  good  and  wise 
judgment  must  be  true  and  just,  but  not  inevitably 
prudent.  There  are  many  prudent  men,  but  few  wise 
and  good  souls.  Prudence  may  or  may  not  be  a  good 
expedient.  At  any  rate  it  possesses  no  intrinsic  char¬ 
acter  of  virtue,  as  so  many  asketics  and  moralists  have 
claimed,  but  at  best  is  only  a  defensive  accessory  to  a 
good  motive  or  cause. 

From  the  standpoint  of  goodness,  simplicity  is  that 
virtue  whereby  the  truth  of  goodness  and  the  goodness 
of  truth  are  made  real  and  evident.  Thus  sincerity  is 
the  simple  manifestation  of  good  will,  veracity  the 
simple  attestation  of  the  purpose  of  the  good,  and 
modesty  the  simple  attitude  which,  in  the  self-conscious¬ 
ness  of  the  absolute  dependence  from  the  Will  of  God, 
arrogates  no  ostentatious  authority  but  always  manifests 
calm  dignity  and  unswerving  truthfulness  for  the  sake 
of  sustaining  the  sublime  might  of  goodness. 

Love  is  the  eternal  fount  of  goodness.  All  that  issues 
therefrom  is  essentially  good.  It  rises  toward  heaven 
and,  with  inward  grace,  inclines  toward  our  earthly 
souls.  It  is  the  flow  of  the  “living  waters”  which 
cleanses,  exhilarates  and  beautifies.  Its  streams  are 
variegated  through  Divine  Light  and  each  hue  and 
shade  of  this  flow  falls  into  the  heart.  Under  this 
heavenly  precipitation  even  the  hardest  heart  yields  and 
is  moved  to  tears  and  willingness  for  good  actions. 


GOODNESS 


281 


Everything  is  good  where  goodness  dwells  and  every¬ 
thing  is  wrong  where  it  is  not.  Love  bears  the  fruit 
of  goodness,  and  righteousness  maintains  it.  The  work 
of  righteousness  is  the  guarding  of  this  fruit  of  love, 
and  the  soul  that  does  not  guard  and  uphold  goodness 
is  neither  righteous  nor  good.  Elere  the  whole  practical 
worthiness  or  lack  of  worthiness  of  the  soul  makes  itself 
manifest.  Our  affinity  to  God,  and  our  devotion  and 
gratitude  to  Him,  constitute  our  supreme  dignity  and, 
therefore,  our  supreme  good.  The  guarding  of  this 
good  is  our  supreme  task  and  duty ;  for  goodness  is 
the  essential  accomplishment  of  the  virtuous. 

This  virtuous  accomplishment,  being  the  spiritual 
fruit  of  the  Love  of  God  manifests  the  character  of 
benevolence  and  magnanimity ,  earnestness  and  enthu¬ 
siasm  and  spiritual  grace  and  beauty. 


BENEVOLENCE  AND  MAGNANIMITY 


Benevolence  derives  from  the  inward  sympathy  of 
sacrificial  sentiments  and,  owing  to  this  origin,  consti¬ 
tutes  the  first  character  of  goodness.  Sacrificial  senti¬ 
ments  are  faithful,  devoted  and  grateful  in  their  essence. 
They  express  virtuous  spirituality  which  is  full  of  good 
will. 

Virtuous  spirituality  is  never  passive;  it  abounds  in 
motives  of  the  good.  It  is  eager  to  express  goodness 
and  always  searches  for  the  opportunity  to  do  the  most 
good.  Benevolence  flows  from  the  heart,  therefore  it 
appeals  to  the  heart  mainly.  It  seeks  for  the  open 

9 

heart  that  it  may  enter  freely,  or  knocks  at  the  closed 
heart,  gently  begging  for  admission.  If  admitted,  it 
is  full  of  communicating  joy;  if  not,  it  feels  wounded, 
retires  calmly,  but  is  never  discouraged.  Benevolence 
is  full  of  mildness  and  tenderness,  but  it  invariably 
perseveres  as  long  as  there  is  reasonable  promise  for 
the  success  of  its  beautiful  mission. 

Since  the  spiritual  good  is  incomparably  superior 
to  material  values,  the  benevolent  heart  of  the  virtuous 
soul  seeks  mainly  to  impart  spiritual  treasures.  But 
the  imparting  of  spiritual  sublimity  is  often  the  most 
difficult  of  all  tasks.  It  requires  a  great  tact,  or  an 

282 


BENEVOLENCE  AND  MAGNANIMITY  283 


extraordinary  force.  Humanity  in  general  is  utterly 
unvirtuous.  It  wants  no  virtues;  it  loves  no  virtue.  It 
fears  virtue  and  at  best  it  merely  respects  it.  Thus 
the  heart  of  man  never  opens  readily  unless  it  is  bowed 
down  by  great  grief  or  distress,  and  even  then  it  seldom 
rises  to  great  inward  resolutions,  and  usually  comforts 
itself  through  such  sympathy  and  external  assistance 
as  it  may  receive. 

Every  soul  is  capable  of  such  sympathy  and  assist¬ 
ance.  But  the  virtuous  man  is  capable  of  far  greater 
service.  He  not  only  sympathizes,  consoles  and  helps, 
but  takes  the  poor,  willing  soul  into  his  powerful  arms 
of  goodness  and  presses  it  to  his  virtuous  breast,  that 
he  may  communicate  the  divine  throb  which  is  in  him. 
His  words  are  not  mere  sympathy,  soon  to  be  forgotten, 
but  the  embracing  power  of  the  divine  spirit.  Then  the 
suffering  soul  no  longer  sees  a  mere  flicker,  but  feels 
the  warming  flame  of  truth.  Its  inward  cry,  “Lift 
me,”  a  cry  so  often  uttered  before  our  parting,  is 
answered,  for  it  feels  the  tremendous  lift  of  God 
through  the  minister  of  virtue.  It  is  lifted  through 
unreserved  atonement  and  determination  to  live  a  purer, 
greater  and  holier  life. 

In  this  act  the  virtuous  man  proves  himself  to  be 
not  only  the  best  teacher  but  also  the  most  intimate 
friend,  two  characters  so  rare  and  yet  so  indispensable 
for  the  progress  to  sublimer  life.  Anyone  can  teach 
what  he  has  learned  by  memory,  but  few  can  teach 


284 


VIRTUES 


what  is  acquired  through  righteous  longing,  profound 
study  and  incessant  effort,  hardships  and  tears;  for  only 
very  few  care  to  acquire  profound  spiritual  experience 
and  virtuous  culture. 

The  virtuous  soul  lives  mainly  through  virtuous 
experience  and  never  neglects  the  beautiful  path  of 
benevolence.  He  never  tires  of  his  good  actions  and 
never  weakens  because  of  the  absence  of  reciprocity. 
On  the  contrary,  in  his  ever-increasing  efforts,  he  rises 
to  the  beautiful  height  of  magnanimity,  with  its  con¬ 
comitant  generosity.  Benevolence  manifests  goodness, 
and  magnanimity  and  generosity  overwhelm  with  good¬ 
ness.  It  is  like  throwing  the  full  weight  of  virtuous 
soulfulness  into  the  other  heart,  thus  causing  astonish¬ 
ment  and  admiration  for  the  grandeur  of  this  virtue. 

Our  human  life  is  not  devoid  of  lesser  magnanimities 
and  generosity.  However,  the  lofty  heroism  of  virtue, 
through  which  the  whole  life  is  magnanimously  offered 
and  generously  spent  at  the  supreme  altar  of  Divine 
glory  and  service  to  humanity,  is  the  sublime  character 
of  great  prophets,  great  teachers  and  great  ministers 
of  God.  Owing  to  the  elevation  of  their  great  con¬ 
sciences  and  the  magnanimity  of  their  great  hearts, 
their  mission  is  sanctioned  by  God. 

Only  a  magnanimous  and  generous  heart  palpably 
feels  the  full  importance,  the  full  enjoyment  and  the 
full  beauty  of  the  life  of  heavenly  values.  Through 
its  sacrificial  greatness,  magnanimity  warms  and  expands 


BENEVOLENCE  AND  MAGNANIMITY  285 


each  willing  heart  and  makes  it  strong  and  manly. 
Magnanimity  sees  human  ingratitude,  but  it  never 
wavers  in  its  spirit  and  goes  onward  with  its  great 
work.  Its  temper  is  to  win  or  overpower  the  little 
ones  with  beneficient  greatness.  And,  finally,  it  over¬ 
powers  and  wins  by  the  power  of  its  unselfish  love. 

Glory  to  the  prophets  and  sacred  scriptures  for  infus¬ 
ing  some  portion  of  benevolence  into  the  human  heart, 
thus  causing  and  spreading  a  gentler,  more  benevolent 
spirit  in  our  human  community.  Nevertheless  humanity 
is  far  from  possessing  the  measure  of  benevolence 
which  it  needs  in  order  to  sustain  its  human  honor  and 
necessary  harmony.  The  appeals  to  conscience  and 
human  honor  for  greater  benevolence  ought  to  be  on 
the  daily  program  of  all  religious,  educational  and 
national  institutions. 

Why  is  it  that  these  appeals  are  so  sporadic  and 
weak?  Is  our  conscience  so  dead  and  our  honor  so 
defiled  that  we  cannot  see  benevolence  as  the  last  mark 
of  the  spiritual  character  of  man?  Surely,  if  we  do 
not  care  for  and  do  not  exhibit  the  power  of  this 
character,  humanity  is  doomed  to  the  state  of  the  brute. 
Nations,  institutions,  families  and  individuals  have  per¬ 
ished  through  disregard  of  benevolence;  and  they 
always  do  and  always  will  perish,  because  this  char¬ 
acter  of  goodness  predicates  the  last  alternative;  either 
thou  art  a  human  being  or  thou  art  not. 

Symbols  of  benevolence  should  be  one  of  the  main 


286 


VIRTUES 


objects  of  poets  and  artists.  Nothing  is  worthier, 
easier  and  more  beautiful  than  benevolence  and  noth¬ 
ing  more  tender  and  sweet  in  our  daily  life.  All 
men  and  women  of  noble  character  and  even  boys 
and  girls  should  rally  around  its  standard  of  eternal 
worthiness,  to  ward  off  the  unbridled  ambition  and 
greed  which  are  threatening  the  weak  fabric  of  human 
institutions  with  complete  destruction. 

There  is  no  possibility  of  evolving  a  plan  for  human¬ 
ity  until  the  divine  spirit  of  benevolence  receives  a 
powerful  impetus.  This  impetus  can  be  obtained  only 
through  the  profounder  knowledge  of  conscience  and 
the  consequent  necessity  for  sustaining  our  human 
honor,  consisting  in  good  will,  unselfish  mentality  and 
a  benevolent  and  magnanimous  heart. 


EARNESTNESS  AND  ENTHUSIASM 


The  truth  of  goodness  manifests  itself  in  its  earnest¬ 
ness.  Its  chief  motive  is  beneficence  and  spiritual  serv¬ 
ice.  Goodness  imparts  treasures  of  the  heart,  the 
most  serious  treasures  we  possess.  Belittling  and  trifling 
with  them  evokes  estrangement,  the  unfortunate  bar¬ 
rier  to  sentimental  approach  and  to  the  understanding 
and  feeling  of  our  brotherhood  in  God. 

Each  earnest  soul  feels  this  brotherhood  in  his  heart 
and  always  endeavors  to  act  according  to  this  great 
sentiment  of  unity  and  mutuality.  Only  the  proud 
man  wants  no  unity  and  mutuality;  all  he  wants  is 
exclusiveness  and  dominion  over  others,  and  his  seem¬ 
ing  earnestness  is  nothing  but  cold  heartlessness. 

Nowhere  is  the  earnestness  of  goodness  so  tangible 
as  in  the  contact  with  human  weakness,  ignorance 
and  insensibility  to  virtue.  In  this  state  the  soul  feels 
itself  lacking  in  nobler  impulses  and  inwardly  longs 
for  worthier  life.  Its  position  is  dreadfully  low,  but 
not  so  low  as  to  exclude  the  earnest  desire  to  do  good 
if  it  can.  It  is  then  that  goodness  seizes  its  hand  and 
sends  to  the  heart  a  virtuous  thrill  which  warms  and 
inspires  the  soul  to  good  deeds.  This  performance 

287 


288  VIRTUES _ 

is  very  serious,  because  upon  it  depends  the  soul’s  rise 
or  further  fall. 

The  reason  the  average  man  takes  so  little  interest 
in  the  rise  of  his  brethren,  is  his  lack  of  the  virtue  of 
goodness  and,  particularly,  in  the  lack  of  understand¬ 
ing  of  its  tremendous  importance  and  purposes.  Parents 
who  do  not  instill  goodness  into  the  hearts  of  their  chil¬ 
dren  are  not  worthy  to  be  called  fathers  and  mothers. 
Any  hireling  can  forbid  when  he  has  the  physical 
authority  to  do  so.  Virtuous  education  is  the  most 
earnest  task  of  our  life.  It  teaches  through  the  serious¬ 
ness  of  humility,  through  the  dignity,  power  and  benefi¬ 
cence  of  its  spirit,  through  serenity  and  loftiness  of 
mind,  through  sublimity  and  righteousness  of  all  virtues 
and  through  its  candid  and  benevolent  sentiment. 

The  sentiment  of  human  brotherhood  will  never  be 
realized  unless  we  take  serious  notice  of  the  great 
importance  of  goodness  in  our  daily  life.  Until  the 
stronger  proves  to  the  weaker  that  his  strength  is  for 
the  good  of  his  brethren,  that  the  interest  in  the  com¬ 
mon  weal  of  man  is  his  chief  interest,  that  he,  by  the 
very  sense  and  consciousness  of  his  strength  is  con¬ 
science-bound  to  be  the  helper  of  the  weaker  man, 
no  progress  of  humanity  will  be  realized. 

The  failure  to  fulfill  this  simple  duty  is  an  actual 
denial  of  conscience  and  human  worthiness.  It  is  the 
affirmation  of  the  ungodly  selfishness  so  often  shame¬ 
lessly  proclaimed  as  the  first  dogma  of  practical  life. 


EARNESTNESS  AND  ENTHUSIASM  289 


Owing  to  this  palpable  fact,  humanity  is  restless  and 
the  suffering  majority  of  men  are  gloomy,  intractable 
and  often  defiant. 

ff  humanity  has  a  right  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness, 
it  must  first  introduce  and  establish  the  ground  for 
this  pursuit,  which  is  goodness,  with  all  its  power  and 
earnestness.  If  this  ground  is  not  first  established  in 
our  souls,  all  our  pursuits  cannot  be  otherwise  than 
selfish. 

The  seriousness  of  this  fact  cannot  be  sufficiently 
impressed  on  all  those  who  are,  or  at  least  ought  to  be, 
the  leaders  of  human  interests.  They  must  remember 
that  souls  are  no  chattels  in  the  hands  of  the  stronger. 
The  spirit  of  law  demands  that  each  soul  be  treated 
as  a  spiritual  being,  as  a  unit  of  our  spiritual  com¬ 
munity. 

The  divergence  of  human  characteristics  and  of  the 
power  of  individual  efficiency  does  not  refute  this 
necessity,  it  rather  proves  it.  blow  can  a  poor  and 
ignorant  man  rise  and  effect  his  usefulness  to  our  com¬ 
mon  good,  if  he  is  not  helped  by  the  stronger  and 
more  enlightened?  And  where  is  the  conscience  and 
honor  of  the  stronger  and  more  enlightened  if  he  does 
not  fulfill  this  insisting  duty  of  benevolence  towards 
his  fellow  man?  If  he  does  not  believe  in  benevolence, 
he  is  the  most  dangerous  subject  in  any  community 
and  the  most  efficient  propagator  of  human  anarchy. 

The  power  and  joy  of  goodness  is  the  most  efficient 


290 


VIRTUES 


animator  of  the  soul’s  honor,  an  honor  which  cheers 
and  lifts  to  virtuous  enthusiasm.  Virtuous  enthusiasm 
consists  in  great  sensitiveness  to  everything  that  is 
good.  At  the  slightest  impulse  of  the  good,  it  rouses 
the  emotions  of  sentiments  and  never  stops  until  the 
good  aim  is  reached. 

Virtuous  enthusiasm  is  not  a  mere  temporary  out¬ 
break,  but  the  intrinsic  course  of  benevolence,  a  con¬ 
stantly  burning  ardor  of  the  virtuous  heart  which 
expresses  its  eternal  youthfulness  and  vigor,  always 
ready  to  live  and  to  die  for  and  to  exalt  the  highest 
good.  With  each  onward  step  in  virtuous  experience 
this  soulful  enthusiasm  becomes  calmer,  more  measured, 
more  firm  and  more  efficient.  It  becomes  an  enthusiasm 
which  never  swerves  from  its  glorious  course  and  whose 
ardor  becomes  more  beautiful  and  harmonious. 

Only  the  timid  soul  has  no  spiritual  enthusiasm,  and 
therefore  hides  himself  behind  the  cold  walls  of  mate¬ 
rial  things,  that  the  truth  of  his  spiritual  wretchedness 
may  not  be  seen.  Indeed,  he,  too,  has  had  enthusiasm, 
but  he  has  applied  that  beautiful  ardor  to  passions 
which  deceived  him  and  left,  as  they  always  do,  a  mere 
spiritual  wreck  of  existence.  Instead  of  gathering  vir¬ 
tuous  experience,  in  order  to  lead  others  to  a  worthier 
life  by  his  good  example,  lofty  mentality  and  senti¬ 
ment,  he  has  become  helpless,  spiritually  inefficient, 
weary  of  his  lot,  and  finally  passes  out  of  this  life  with 


EARNESTNESS  AND  ENTHUSIASM  291 


little  consolation  and  hope  for  his  future  station,  and 
with  no  lasting  proof  of  his  great  destiny. 

Virtuous  enthusiasm  is  the  ravishing  might  of  good¬ 
ness,  through  which  great  deeds  are  accomplished  with 
readiness  and  facility.  It  constitutes  the  reanimation 
of  our  affinity  to  God,  a  taste  and  touch  of  divine 
childship  and  an  inkling  of  its  power.  It  is  the  cause 
of  great  inward  conversions,  of  sacrificial  vows,  of 
the  fiery  words  of  the  prophets,  and  of  that  profound 
devotion  to  the  holy  cause  of  God  and  humanity  which 
steps  without  fear  or  reluctance  to  the  altar  of  sacrifice. 
Blessed  is  the  soul  possessed  of  this  heavenly  power, 
for  its  steps  are  sure  and  rapid  toward  the  goal  of 
eternal  destiny. 


SPIRITUAL  GRACE  AND  BEAUTY 


Goodness  is  the  living  spring  of  spiritual  grace  and 
beauty.  It  weeps  with  the  mournful  and  wipes  away 
the  tears  of  sorrow  with  a  gentle  hand.  It  brings  con¬ 
solation  into  calamity,  and  comforts  the  gloomy  and 
dejected.  Goodness  is  the  compassionate  and  most 
graceful  messenger  of  heaven,  that  tenderly  lifts  up 
the  downcast  face  of  the  deeply  afflicted  and  with  calm 
solemnity  whispers:  “There  is  a  heavenly  Father 
Whom  thou  hast  forsaken.  Whether  thou  knowest  it 
or  not,  thou  art  His  child.  Rise  and  go  to  Him.  I 
shall  be  with  thee.  He  is  waiting  for  thee.”  And 
like  a  faithful  friend,  goodness  walks  beside  him, 
encouraging  him  and  cheering  his  heart,  until  he  reaches 
the  gates  of  his  celestial  home. 

There  is  nothing  under  all  the  suns  that  cheers  so 
vividly  as  the  virtue  of  goodness.  It  reflects  not  so 
much  its  heavenly  might  as  its  heavenly  attraction.  It 
heals  the  wounds  of  the  heart  and  exhales  a  heavenly 
fragrance  which  is  sweet  and  gladdening.  The  weaker 
souls  are  hungry  for  this  divine  effusion.  The  strong 
soul  possesses  it  and  with  a  generous  hand  distributes 
it  to  his  needy  brethren. 

Rich  is  the  soul  in  which  goodness  has  established 

292 


SPIRITUAL  GRACE  AND  BEAUTY  293 

its  dwelling,  for  its  riches  are  sacred  and  of  life  eter¬ 
nal;  and  its  beauty  is  equal  to  its  richness,  because 
goodness  is  the  crowning  wreath  and  the  final  accom¬ 
plishment  of  each  virtue.  Not  only  does  it  proclaim 
and  prove  the  Divine  goodness  which  causes  it,  but 
also  unfolds  the  eternal  splendor  and  magnificence  of 
all  virtues  of  which  it  is  the  eternal  fruit. 

Goodness  is  the  sacred  artist  that  teaches  the  power 
and  grace  of  virtuous  life.  Virtuous  life  is  a  divine  art, 
of  which  all  other  arts  are  but  a  plastic,  graphic  or 
phonetic  reflex.  It  brings  forth  the  harmony  of  vir¬ 
tuous  life,  with  its  inspiring  and  fascinating  forms  of 
thoughts  and  resonance  of  sentiments,  which,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  virtuous  motives,  manifest  their  characteristic 
grace  and  beauty. 

The  virtuous  character  of  the  humble  is  admirable. 
There  is  a  total  absence  of  assertiveness,  loudness  and 
self-interest;  and  yet  it  is  full  of  appeal,  penetration, 
and  interest.  Nothing  penetrates  and  appeals  so 
strongly  to  the  good  heart  as  calm  unassertiveness,  and 
nothing  causes  such  profound  trust  and  interest  as  the 
dependency  on  the  Supreme  Good  and  disinterested¬ 
ness  in  worldy  things. 

This  is  the  grace  and  beauty  .of  humility  which, 
in  its  faith  in  and  devotion  and  gratitude  to  the  High¬ 
est  Good,  evolves  that  beautiful  attitude  which  is 
enrapturing.  The  faith  of  this  soul  cannot  be  shaken, 
its  devotion  cannot  be  interrupted,  and  its  gratitude 


294 


VIRTUES 


cannot  be  distracted.  The  fact  that  the  virtuous  soul 
lives  in  faith,  devotion  and  gratitude  causes  the 
spiritual  appeal,  dependence  and  harmonious  beauty 
of  the  virtuous  character. 

The  source  of  his  harmonious  power  lies  in  the  har¬ 
mony  of  the  forces  of  his  soul  with  Divine  Attribues; 
a  harmony  without  which  our  life  has  the  character 
either  of  a  portentious  drama  or  pessimistic  tragedy, 
of  an  optimistic  rhapsody  or  common  burlesque.  If 
conscience,  honor,  wisdom  and  love  do  not  constitute 
the  mainspring  of  all  our  motives,  the  characteristic 
expression  of  the  soul  is  not  a  character,  but  a  caricature, 
a  distortion  of  what  it  ought  to  be. 

The  rhythmic  breathing  of  this  harmony  is  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  virtuous  life,  in  which  there  is  no  place  for 
the  storms  of  passions.  It  is  a  steady,  calm  and  holy 
enthusiasm,  filled  with  inward  hymnic  songs  of  praise 
and  gratitude  to  God  and  the  constantly  attracting 
re-echo  of  our  divine  childship. 

In  each  better  soul,  this  ever-sounding  re-echo  of  di¬ 
vine  childship  is  the  divine  promise  of  and  virtuous  hope 
for  our  future  angelhood,  where  passions  are  unknown 
and  where  virtues  are  our  constant  power  and  habit; 
where  spheres  of  worlds  are  set  at  our  disposition  to  be¬ 
hold,  to  learn,  to  survey  and  rule  according  to  the  Will 
of  God.  For  only  in  the  most  intimate  cooperation  with 
Divine  Almightiness  the  consummate  harmony  of  the 
soul  with  God  is  realized,  and  the  power,  fruit  and 


SPIRITUAL  GRACE  AND  BEAUTY  295 


beauty  of  life  is  attained.  Hence  no  soul  is  satisfied 
with  the  beauty  of  its  life,  and  it  never  can  be  satis¬ 
fied  until  its  highest  aim,  this  divine  harmony,  is  attained. 

In  striving  for  divine  harmony,  the  virtuous  soul 
reveals  the  great  power  of  his  character.  He  clings 
to  this  harmony  unyieldingly  and,  may  outer  condi¬ 
tions  be  ever  so  painful,  he  never  permits  himself  to  be 
distracted,  much  less  dissevered  from  it.  This  har¬ 
mony  is  his  inward  power,  which  not  only  astonishes 
the  less  virtuous  but  often  causes  him  to  follow  with 
willing  alacrity.  Becoming  conscious  and  sentient  of 
this  divine  harmony,  though  it  is  not  yet  consummate 
in  him,  he  desires  no  other  bliss  and  beauty  than  the 
one  bestowed  by  God  on  his  inwardness. 

Moving  from  his  inward  self-consciousness  into  the 
consciousness  of  all  things  created,  the  virtuous  soul  pre¬ 
serves  the  inward  harmony  of  visions  of  all  things  seen, 
for  everything  he  constructs  in  his  intellect  must  be  a 
shining  reflex  of  his  inward  harmony  with  God.  The 
virtuous  always  chooses  the  worthiest  first,  that  he  may 
be  sure  of  the  right  gradation,  and  he  always  applies 
the  innate,  God-given  rule  of  mental  laws,  in  order 
to  see  the  harmonious  and  beautiful  correspondence  of 
the  intellectual  faculties  with  the  things  conceived,  and 
in  order  to  feel  the  delight  of  this  very  correspondence, 
which  is  a  distinct  sign  of  the  ever-present  Love  of 
God. 

The  soul-embracing  correspondence  with  the  Light 


296 _ VIRTUES _ 

and  Love  of  God  constitutes  his  great  reasoning  power. 
H  ence,  he  never  is  contented  with  any  indistinct  form, 
no  matter  how  metaphysically  or  scientifically  impres¬ 
sive  it  may  appear,  but  descends  into  the  profundity 
of  the  life  of  God  in  order  to  find  the  prototypical 
form  of  all  essences  and  substances  of  relative  life 
in  the  superessential  and  transcendent  mights  of  God 
Himself.  This  is  the  real  logical  induction,  which 
only  the  virtuous  intellect  can  attain.  It  requires  the 
beautiful  ardor  of  the  holy  tendency  to  Truth  and  Love 
to  enable  the  intellect  to  see  the  prototype  and  the 
harmonious  grandeur  of  all  life. 

With  this  harmonious  will  and  mind,  inspired,  upheld 
and  sanctified  by  God,  the  virtuous  soul  pursues  the 
realization  of  his  most  beautiful  task,  the  life  of  sac¬ 
rifice.  Being  permeated  with  the  self-consciousness 
and  self-sentiency  that  all  the  good  he  has  attained  is 
the  gift  of  the  love  of  God,  he,  by  this  very  fact,  is 
joyfully  willing  to  lead  a  life  of  giving  to  his  utmost 
capacity. 

Only  the  giver  possesses  great  honor,  power  and 
joy  and  is  able  to  manifest  the  magnanimity,  benevo¬ 
lence,  liberality  and  beauty  of  his  heart.  All  he  has 
received  from  God  is  there  solely  to  be  given ;  surely 
not  indiscriminately,  but  wisely,  to  all  who  are  in  need 
of  inspirational  gifts.  And  since  the  heart  of  humanity 
is  hardened  through  lack  of  those  gifts,  every  man 
of  nobler  character  should  be  inwardly  conscious  of 


SPIRITUAL  GRACE  AND  BEAUTY  297 


and  permeated  with  this  great  duty  to  God  and  man. 
He  should  strive  to  become  more  virtuous,  that  he  may 
be  able  to  gam  more  energy  for  the  elevation  of  honor, 
truth  and  righteousness,  which  each  man  demands  from 
others,  and  which  God  demands  from  us  all. 

Only  then  shall  we  attain  the  profound  appreciation 
of  religious  life,  by  virtue  of  which  it  will  be  possible 
to  establish  the  spiritual  groundwork  of  religious  and 
social  harmony.  Then  our  life  will  be  full  of  blessing, 
for  it  will  be  inspired  and  sustained  by  the  might  of 
virtues  and  crowned  with  their  resplendent  beauty. 
The  ennobling  growth  of  our  character  will  lead  us 
through  unimpeded  progress  to  the  realization  of  the 
inward  sense  of  brotherhood  which  constantly  arises 
from  the  profundity  of  our  divine  childship.  Then  the 
eternal  Voice  of  God  will  be  followed,  the  final  issue 
of  religion  loved,  and  the  true  destiny  of  honor  and  life 
fulfilled. 

Our  innate  destiny  is  the  Heaven  of  God,  the 
mightiest  and  most  glorious  state  of  life,  and  no  soul 
will  be  at  rest  unless  it  employs  all  its  voluntary, 
mental  and  sentimental  forces  to  attain  the  eternal 
goal  of  a  perfect  life  in  God. 


